New Yorkers hoping to end the quarantine are not alone.
During his daily coronavirus briefing on Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said the period of lockdown is “a very difficult period” and noted that “people want to move on” from many parts of New York being shuttered for the past two months in an effort to slow the spread of the disease.
“People are all talking about reopening, which we should be talking about,” Cuomo said. “This is not a sustainable situation. Close down everything. Close down the economy. Lock yourself in the home. You can do it for a short period of time, but you can’t do it forever.”
New York has been the epicenter of the disease in the United States, with more than 18,000 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since the state went into lockdown in March. Cuomo has been heralded for his state’s response to the virus after early indicators suggested that New York could be overrun by the disease.
“It was a blunt operation and one that was done all across the country,” Cuomo added. “Just stop everything now. … Start by learning the lessons that we did learn through this experience. And second, let’s be smart about what we do. And I get the emotion, and I get the impatience, and I get the anxiety. We all feel it. When I say the situation is unsustainable, it’s unsustainable on many levels. It’s unsustainable economically. It’s unsustainable personally.”
Although New York’s lockdown was extended to mid-May, some states, such as Florida, have reopened after President Trump released new “phase one” guidance on the disease.
