Newsman: Governor Andrew Cuomo announced New York state-mandated COVID restrictions on commercial and social settings will be lifted effective immediately — and to celebrate, there were fireworks across the state Tuesday night. New York had achieved his 70% vaccine milestone early and state-mandated COVID restrictions are now eliminated. he said
“Today is Day 472. Today is Tuesday.” And effective immediately, state-mandated COVID restrictions are eliminate. Both the Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blazio are now focusing on safety to the children to open public schools.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said “We have hit 70% vaccination,” a triumphant Cuomo said Tuesday, meaning the state can “now return to life as we know it.”
New York had achieved his 70% adult partial vaccination milestone early.
Standing within One World Trade Center, a 1,776-foot-tall testament to New York’s ability to recover from unthinkable loss, Cuomo declared the one-time epicenter had not only turned the page on the worst public health crisis in a century but emerged mightier from it. And he credited New Yorkers for continuing the fight. It means an opportunity to “return to life as we know it,” Gov. Cuomo said — and he set up a series of statewide fireworks displays Tuesday to celebrate. The day was marked with a 9:15 p.m. statewide fireworks celebration to honor the essential workers, without whom he says the state could not have made it through the nightmarish early days of the pandemic and the daily devastation that followed. Thirteen state landmarks will be lit blue and gold to “say thank you.”
New York City has announced plans to celebrate essential workers, too — with the first ticker-tape parade since the pandemic hit. That long-promised upcoming march along Manhattan’s Canyon of Heroes July 7 might mark the most symbolic point of resurgence yet for a city so devastated early and throughout the pandemic.
“This is a momentous day — and we deserve it, because it has been a long, long road,” the governor said amid resounding applause from a room packed with his labor union allies. “It’s a day to look backward and remember where we were, but also a day to look forward to where we’re going.”
“If you said to us on Day 1, at the beginning of COVID, that we would be capable of what we have done, no one would believe it,” Cuomo added. “Where are we today? We have the lowest COVID positivity rate in the United States of America.”
What changes going forward? No more social distancing or gathering limits for more than a dozen commercial and social settings. No more capacity restrictions. No more health screening. No more contact tracing protocols.
But the individual establishments can impose stricter standards if they so choose but the state executive orders that have mandated them for well more than a year are done.
Unvaccinated people are still responsible for continuing to wear masks, per the CDC. Existing COVID-19 protocol remains in place for pre-K-12 schools, public transit, shelters, large-scale indoor events venues, correctional facilities and healthcare settings in accordance with CDC guidelines, Cuomo noted. Those standards could be tweaked before long, too, if the CDC adjusts its guidance.7
No matter what, Cuomo says all New Yorkers would be able to enjoy them: “Literally, they’re going to be displayed all across the state, so wherever you are, they’ll be in your community and you can enjoy the celebration with the rest of the state.”
Even as he acknowledged the progress the Empire State has made both on vaccinations and in beating back a novel virus Cuomo urged continued vigilance Tuesday.
“Seventy percent is not the end of the effort, but it is an important milestone and we’re going to keep trying to do more,” he said. “You want to honor essential workers? I’ll tell you how to honor the essential workers. You get vaccinated so you don’t need the essential workers.”
More than 60% of all New Yorkers are fully immunized, though the pace has slowed to an exceedingly slow drip in recent weeks, especially among long-eligible adults.
More than 29% of New Yorkers age 12 to 15 have had at least one dose, while almost 17% are fully vaccinated. On June 8, just eight days ago, that full vaccination number for kids in that age range was only 7.7%. It took a little more than a week to more than double that rate, while it took nearly the same amount of time for the percentage of partially vaccinated adults to increase by just 1.4%. Covid-19 has likely claimed more than 50,000 New York lives in 15 months,
