The New York State announced this Monday that the practically all the restrictions to combat covid-19 that remain in force will be lifted as soon as 70% of the adult population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.
From that moment on, regulations on issues such as capacity, surface disinfection, ventilation, and contact tracking will be voluntary for a majority of businesses, including shops, restaurants, offices, gyms or hairdressers.
Meanwhile, restrictions will continue in some places like the schools, public transportation, prisons, nursing homes, shelters for the homeless or large compounds, as explained by the state governor, Andrew Cuomo, at a press conference.
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“When we reach 70% we will return to a normal life or as normal as it can be post-covid, “said Cuomo, who defended the decision due to the drop in the numbers of infections and the clear effectiveness of the vaccines.
Right now, a 68.6% of adults in New York have received at least one dose, so the lifting of restrictions could come in the very short term.
Businesses, in any case, will be free to continue requiring measures such as the use of masks, a precaution that New York authorities continue to recommend in closed spaces where it is not clear that all people are vaccinated.
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The state has already ended a very important part of the measures against covid-19 that they had imposed the businesses in the middle of May and, last week, it took a step more when eliminating limitations in the hours of the hospitality industry.
For now, the disease indicators continue to advance in the right direction and the rate of positives is at minimum levels since the start of the pandemic.
Cuomo also announced on Monday that schools may decide to stop forcing students to wear a mask when they are outdoors, although its use should continue indoors at least until the end of the current school year.
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