New Yorkers may be heading back into quarantine.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday threatened to shut down Manhattan and the Hamptons over social distancing complaints.
“I am warning today in a nice way: consequences of your actions,” Cuomo said at a press conference. “We have 25,000 complaints statewide. I’m not going to turn a blind eye to them. They are rampant and there’s not enough enforcement.”
“I am not going to allow situations to exist that we know have a high likelihood of causing an increase in the spread of the virus,” the governor added.
Cuomo said Manhattan and the Hamptons lead the state with violations.
“These are not hard-to-spot violations. People send videos of these violations,” the governor said.
If “local governments are not monitoring policing, doing the compliance, yes, there is a very real possibility that we would roll back the reopening of those areas.”
Cuomo during his press conference said he personally phoned some bars and restaurants to inform them of violations.
“I said to them, ‘You’re playing with your liquor license.”
Shortly after Mayor de Blasio fired back
The NY Post reported:
“We must balance safety with people’s need to reopen their businesses,” a City Hall spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
“We had social distancing ambassadors out all weekend distributing masks and encouraging people to disperse after making their purchases.
“These businesses are allowed to be open per the Governor’s guidelines and we don’t believe imprisoning people or taking away their livelihood is the answer.”
