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Return of in-store retail ramps up Phase 2

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s temperatures rise, the rush to get outdoors is palpable. And that was evident on just the first day of Westchester’s second phase of its economic reopening.

On Tuesday, June 9, the Mid-Hudson Region, which includes Westchester County, started its second of a four-phase reopening plan designed by New York state.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, also issued an executive order on June 4, allowing outdoor dining and on-premises services of alcoholic beverages for any region that has entered Phase Two. “We are continuously evaluating activities that can be safely reopened, and today we are adding outdoor seating at restaurants to phase two,” Cuomo said.

The difference was immediate.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Westchester continues to drop even as the county approaches its second week in Phase Two of New York State’s four-tier reopening plan.

Bare roadways were now populated with cars; empty sidewalks were pulsing with activity; retail openings and outdoor dining brought residents out in droves.

The bulk of Phase Two consists of the reopening of professional and financial services, real estate business, commercial building management, hair salons and barbershops, retail rental, cleaning and repair, vehicle sales, lease and repairs and in-store retail with some minor exceptions such as indoor shopping malls.

“We finally start the process realistically of getting back to a reasonable place in our society,” said Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a Democrat, at a press briefing to kick off the second phase. “We’re starting to open up business and we’re really getting back to something closer to normal.”

With the increase in retail foot traffic, safety mandates will remain in place. Offices must limit occupancy to a maximum of 50%, maintain a minimum of 6 feet of distance among individuals, and, if a 6-foot distance cannot be maintained, masks are required to be worn.

Yet, gyms and fitness centers, movie theaters, bars and indoor restaurants, and large-scale event centers or facilities still remain closed in Westchester, although Latimer said on Monday that the region is on track to enter into the next phase on June 23.

For many of those businesses to reopen, as part of Phase Three, public health officials will continue to monitor key metrics such as hospitalization and infection rates. If there is a spike in cases, regional officials would likely attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19—the illness caused by the coronavirus—by pausing reopening efforts.

Cuomo also announced on June 15 that once in Phase Three, public gatherings would be allowed to increase from 10 to 25 people.

The Mid-Hudson was the eighth region in the state to incrementally reopen launching Phase One on May 26. Currently, each of the 10 regions in the state is now in some phase of the reopening plan, dubbed “New York Forward,” including New York City—the last region to restart its economy—which entered into Phase One on June 9.

In response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, Cuomo closed all non-essential businesses on March 22 and issued a statewide stay-at-home order.

Nearly three months later, the COVID-19 numbers are continuing to show a positive trend line for Westchester officials. Latimer reported that there were 69 new cases of the virus on June 12, bringing the total numbers of cases to 34,175 or 17% of all tested; and of those cases roughly 150 remain hospitalized.

But the number of active cases, 826, was considerably down. “Those numbers have been dropping for the last eight weeks now since we hit our peak back in the first week of April,” Latimer said, “when we were in the vicinity of 12,000 active cases.”

Testing has been a focal point for the state, particularly in the downstate regions. New York state has conducted the most COVID-19 tests in the nation.

As of June 12, Westchester had tested 200,890 people. “That’s fully 20 percent of the county has been tested, “Latimer said. “And all of the public health professionals say one of the key things we have to do is test as many as possible on COVID. So that is good news.”

The bad news is the county lost two more residents to the virus, bringing the countywide death toll to 1,402 since early March when an initial outbreak was first reported in the city of New Rochelle. More than 117,000 deaths have been confirmed nationwide, as of June 14, with nearly 31,000 of those deaths coming from New York state.

As states begin to dig out from the aftereffects of the coronavirus, addressing financial and economic shortfalls are the next hills to climb. Closing a large revenue gap—projected to be as high as $180 million—is just the latest fear for Westchester officials. Of added concern is the roughly $63 million in state aid the county accounted for in its operating budget this year, which is now at risk—pending federal assistance—as the state faces its own multi-billion dollar revenue hole due to the extended economic shutdown.

“As society is opening back up,” Latimer said, “we’re starting to see some numbers rise a little bit, sales tax and a couple of other areas. But we’re a long way from being on budget.”

 

CONTACT: chris@hometwn.com