New York will lift restrictions when 70% of adults have a dose

New York, Jun 7 (EFE) .- The state of New York announced this Monday that practically all of 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, the rules 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, the restrictions will continue in some places such as schools, public transportation, prisons, nursing homes, shelters for the homeless or large enclosures, as explained by the state governor, Andrew Cuomo, in a press conference.
“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, 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.
The state has already put an end to a very important part of the measures against COVID-19 that businesses had imposed in mid-May and, last week, took another step by ending restrictions on the hours of the hospitality industry.
For now, indicators of the disease continue to move 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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