The fear of a second wave. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday, October 5, that schools in nine New York City neighborhoods will close as of Tuesday in an attempt to prevent a resumption of the coronavirus epidemic in the city. The authorities must also make a decision on non-essential businesses.
Andrew Cuomo brought forward by one day the date proposed by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who announced on Sunday his intention to close these schools as of Wednesday. This concerns neighborhoods in southern Brooklyn, and a few areas in eastern and southern Queens, where the rate of positive coronavirus cases has been above the 3% threshold for more than seven days. The measure concerns public but also private schools, the governor said during a press briefing.
The plan unveiled by the mayor on Sunday also called for the temporary closure of all non-essential businesses, including restaurants, which have reopened in New York since June 22. The governor refused to follow him, at least for the time being, pleading for a more targeted approach than postal codes, the division used by the town hall, and asking for additional data to be able to decide.
Andrew Cuomo also argued that closing non-essential businesses was not the priority to contain the spread of the virus. “Businesses” of these neighborhoods “do not have a significant propagation capacity, he said. We are talking about small businesses “.
Many businesses have already had to close, weighed down by the pandemic and the spring containment. Many others hold on but are very weakened.
“Unless there is a contra-order, we will implement our plan on Wednesday” in these nine districts with the orderly closure of all non-essential businesses, retorted, a little later, Bill de Blasio, Andrew Cuomo’s best enemy, although they are both Democrats.
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