« It’s Saturday night. Party like it’s Monday. Or like you have a big exam tomorrow. Or like you have to wake up at 6 a.m. Be smart. Be careful. “In New York, the governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo, tweets willingly to wage his second battle against Covid-19: to avoid at all costs the resurgence of the virus in the American state which has paid the heaviest price, but which is now a model in a country marked by a massive resumption of the epidemic.
Summer evenings are the governor’s pet peeve and he doesn’t hesitate to wield the stick. On Monday, he announced the suspension of around thirty bar licenses in the state – name and address in support – establishments accused of having violated the rules of prevention during the weekend.
Indoor service prohibited
License suspensions ” are served immediately and remain in effect indefinitely, the maximum penalty including permanent license revocation and fines of up to $ 10,000 per violation », Indicate the governor’s services. Last week, Andrew Cuomo also denounced the holding of a concert on Long Island, where the CEO of Goldman Sachs was performing.
To avoid excessive drinking that lowers the guard, the administration had already imposed on bars to sell alcohol only with food, but many establishments are getting around the rule by offering chips or a pretzel. To prevent the spread of the virus, indoor service is still prohibited in New York City and the municipality has, in return, facilitated the installation of terraces in the streets.
Hardened entry rules
If everyone has already been wearing a mask permanently on the streets of New York for months, the governor has also toughened the rules for entering the state. With the surge in coronavirus cases in southern states, New York is asking any traveler from a state where the rate of positive Covid tests is greater than 10% (or when there are more than 10 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) to impose a quarantine of two weeks on arrival.
To date, 34 states (out of 50) and Puerto Rico are subject to this measure … Airport agents are responsible for tracking travelers. The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, also announced that from Thursday, the police would install “Passenger check-in points” at the level of the main bridges and tunnels of the city. A health form will be completed and a contact kept to more effectively trace people in the event of contamination.
In airports and on the roads, advertising or information panels also continuously broadcast safety messages and remind people of the rules.
Next sensitive issue: school
Since the start of the epidemic, information has been a marker of state policy. Every day, Andrew Cuomo sends an email with details of the numbers of new cases detected, county by county, the number of hospitalizations and deaths. The state has also massively deployed screening. According to the latest daily statistics, 636 new cases were counted in the state, or 0.87% of positive people among those tested. And 4 deaths were recorded.
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While each rule and each step of deconfinement obey quantified criteria, the next high-risk step will be the start of the school year. In New York, which educates 1.1 million children, the town hall has proposed several scenarios mixing attendance at school and teleworking – a plan, however, scrutinized by Governor Andrew Cuomo, in recurring conflict with the mayor of New York.
At one of Manhattan’s major colleges, the city’s plan is one-third of the time in school and two-thirds telecommuting. And this, in the best case. If a case is detected in a classroom, students will be homebound for two weeks. And if more than 3% of tests taken over an average of seven days come back positive in the city, all schools in New York will close again.
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