New York | Some areas of New York State, the most affected by the epidemic in the United States, will be able to gradually revive their economy from May 15, but not New York City itself, where the lockdown is expected to last at least. until June, local authorities said on Monday.
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The city of New York, the economic capital of the country and the most affected metropolis with nearly 20,000 confirmed or probable deaths from the virus, is not ready to regain its effervescence.
No date has been set for deconfinement, and Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday it was likely to last until at least June.
Even if the current figures “point in the right direction, they must be confirmed in a more lasting way. Right now, that takes us until June, ”said de Blasio. “When June approaches, we will be able to say whether things are really falling into place, and then what will be the areas where we can relax,” he added.
According to the governor, Andrew Cuomo, a few rare outdoor activities may resume throughout this state of 20 million inhabitants, such as gardening, open-air cinemas, or leisure activities such as tennis.
For the rest, the start of deconfinement should only concern regions far from the first American metropolis, which will be able to restart their construction and manufacturing sectors on Friday, when the current confinement decree expires for the whole of the United States. State.
The regions will first have to meet seven very precise quantified criteria, notably concerning the evolution of their number of cases, hospital capacity, and the testing and tracing capacities of infected people, the governor stressed.
“We’ve avoided the worst because of what we’ve done, and now we can smartly look to the reopening on May 15th, this Friday. Regions need to start preparing for it, and so do people, ”Cuomo said.
If the epidemic is in sharp decline in New York – where have been recorded a quarter of more than 79,000 American deaths – the mayor and the governor advocate extreme caution, for fear that the epidemic does not start rising again quickly.
The state recorded 161 more COVID-19 deaths on Sunday, Cuomo said, a sharp drop from the record 799 on April 9.
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