New York Mayor Bill de Blasio offered three indicators to show the coronavirus is decreasing over a continuous period before social distancing restrictions are lifted.
Those include the number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19 conditions, the number of people admitted to intensive care units for suspected COVID-19 conditions, and the percentage of people throughout the city who test positive.
“When all of the data, all of the lines move in the same direction for a sustained period of time, that’s when we can start talking about changing some of the rules and making life a little easier,” de Blasio told reporters at a press briefing Thursday.
“We need to see all three of those indicators move in unison in the same direction. We cannot see two of them get better and one of them get worse. That doesn’t work. All three have to move together down,” de Blasio said. “They have to do that for at least 10 days to two weeks — sustained, consistent. If it’s one day gets good and the next day goes bad, that doesn’t count, he explained.”
De Blasio told reporters he does not envision the next phase happening this month. Rather, he sees a change back to normalcy in late spring or early summer.
“We’re not talking about necessarily a huge period of time. This is something, again, I don’t think that happens in April. I think if we really work hard, we have a chance of seeing change in May or June,” he said. “So, that hard work and everyone in the government has to lead the way, and we have to support it in every way possible and force it in every way possible.”
However, according to city health officials, the loosening of restrictions would begin gradually, starting with specific types of businesses that would be allowed to reopen.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, at his daily briefing Wednesday, rejected the proposal from the Broadway League that theaters and other businesses along the famous New York City entertainment strip should be reopened by June 7.
“I wouldn’t use what Broadway thinks as a barometer of anything unless they’re in the public health business and have better models,” he said.
