Gov. Andrew Cuomo says officials studied reopening plans around the world and spoken with global health experts to come up with a reopening plan.

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On Tuesday, Cuomo announced the total hospitalization rate is again down "a tick," the number of intubations is also down and the number of new COVID patients is below 1,000 which Cuomo said is "good news."

Cuomo announced 335 New Yorkers died from the virus in the past day, bringing the statewide total to 17,638.

"This number is reducing, but not at a tremendous rate," Cuomo said on the number of people dying from New York.

In terms of reopening, Cuomo a key metric to watch is if hospitals hit 70 percent capacity or rate of transmissions of the virus reaches 1.1. He believes if an area hits a danger zone, you can expect to stay in that zone for at least two weeks.

"If the transmission reaches 1.1, that means an outbreak," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said in terms of the virus parts of upstate are comparable to states in the mid-west, which is much different than what's going on in New York City.

"We want to reopen, but we want to do it without infecting more people or overwhelming the hospital system," he said.

Cuomo released the following data points to reopen:

  • You can't start to reopen until you reach the CDC guidelines of 14 days with decline numbers
  • Phase 1 Reopen: Allow construction and manufacturing to reopen.
  • Phase 2 Reopen: Identify businesses which can reopen safely and help New York
  • What business precautions will be in place in terms of social distancing, PPE and monitoring.
  • Healthcare capacity: Don't go over 70 percent capacity
  • Anticipate Flu Season
  • Stockpile Medical Equipment.
  • Increase testing: It's recommended 30 tests per 1,000 people
  • Tracing System:
  • Create Isolation facilities for infected people
  • Regional Coordination" Schools, transportation, testing, tracing
  • Reimagine telemedicine
  • Reimagine tele-education
  • Regional Control Room to slow down reopening if you hit the "Danger Zone"

"We have studied reopening plans around the world and spoken to global health experts," Cuomo said. We’ve come up with factual, data-driven principles to guide us on reopening.
We will approach this on a regional basis. It’s the only smart thing to do."

Cuomo also announced the creation of a New York Forward Advisory Board to develop a reopening plan.

The social distancing efforts of New Yorkers have saved lives, Cuomo said on Tuesday during his COVID-19 briefing in Syracuse.

Initial projections said 120,000 New Yorkers would be infected and hospitalized when the actual number was around 20,000, according to Cuomo.

"We changed reality. What we did. It's the close down, it's wearing masks, we flattened the curve," Cuomo said.

Cuomo also said we must "protect and respect" the essential workers.

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