Gov. Andrew Cuomo will sit down with five other governors of northeast states this weekend for an emergency powwow over how best to fight the second wave of coronavirus infections sweeping across much of the region — and the nation.
“I have called my surrounding colleagues — governors — and we’re going to have an emergency summit meeting this weekend,” said Cuomo. “We want to make sure we can align policies as much as possible, or at least be aware of the other states’ policies are.”
Few other details about the meeting were immediately available about the meeting, which the governor announced during a conference call with reporters Friday.
Cuomo also warned that he believed the situation would continue to deteriorate and added that he believes “that we’re going to have to be taking additional steps,” hinting at potentially new restrictions on gatherings and activities to slow the spread of the virus. However, he added there would be no new rules announced before Monday.
The flurry of activity came the same day as his recently imposed 10 p.m. curfew on in-person dining at restaurants and bars takes effect, though kitchens will be allowed to remain open for takeout and delivery service.
Cuomo has also ordered gyms to close by 10 p.m. and imposed a new 10-person cap on gatherings in private residents, all in a bid to staunch New York’s uptick in infections.
But statics released Friday show New York has made little progress in slowing the uptick in infections across the state.
The Empire State’s overall positivity rate for tests processed on Thursday was 2.6 percent, which is down a tick from the 2.9 percent reported the day before.
However, the positive testing rate has been surging upward for weeks — and remains far above the levels seen in late October when it was as low as 1.15 percent.
Cuomo’s announcement came just hours after Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed that a surge in positive tests from the Big Apple could force the city to suspend its in-person learning programs and switch public schools back to all-remote instruction.
The situation is devolving more rapidly in other parts of the northeast, which had been able to tamp back infections in recent months even as the disease spread with abandon in other parts of the country.
Officials in neighboring Vermont on Friday imposed their own regulations that echoed New York’s recent restrictions, ordering restaurants to close down table service at 10 p.m. and for gyms and other businesses to keep a log of customers to boost contract tracing measures.
The state’s governor, Phil Scott, also barred multi-household gatherings inside of private residences to try to get a grip on a recent outbreak.
“I want to be clear, we’re in a new phase of this pandemic,” Scott told reporters, according to Burlington, VT television station WPTZ, Channel 5-NBC. “The days of low-risk are over.”
New Jersey on Thursday revealed that the daily positivity rate among tests there hit a frightening 12 percent, leading Gov. Phil Murphy to allow municipalities on the other side of the Hudson to order non-essential business close as early as 8 p.m.
“You cannot defy reality,” Cuomo warned. “And reality is the virus transmits and the virus is mobile and we’re in the holiday season.”
