Ready for Reopening on June 8, Will New York City Ride Out of Corona Storm?

Summary

• Phase-wise reopening of New York City is set to begin from June 8, with about 400,000 people expected to return to their workplaces.
• Government will focus on hotspots before the city opening while working towards stockpiling personal protective equipment and reducing infections.
• Strict guidelines for people to follow, including wearing masks, maintaining social distance and half of capacity in stores/office buildings.
• MTA is also getting prepared for the city reopening and working towards making the mass transit system safe for riders.
• The US stock market is hopeful due to economic reopening.

The US epicentre of coronavirus pandemic, New York City, is all set for a phase-wise reopening from June 8, as said by New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on Friday, May 29.

In a news conference in New Rochelle, New York, the Governor said that the Government is on track to begin the reopening of New York City, starting with the first phase on June 8, which would see about 400,000 people going back to work.

The industries that will reopen their doors first are - manufacturing, non-essential construction, and wholesale. Also, non-essential retail with businesses limited to curbside or in-store pickups have been given the go-ahead.

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Cuomo Cautions Against Too Much Excitement about Reopening

The Governor has warned against too much excitement about reopening. He stated that people need to be smart and understand that the reopening doesn’t mean the pandemic is over and happy days are here again. And, people can live as they were living earlier.

The reopening will happen with strict guidelines including maintaining social distancing and wearing masks.

Reopening New York City is Complicated: Cuomo

The Governor also highlighted that the city reopening is complicated, but the Government is on track to meet all the metrics to reopen again.

Out of the seven state-mandated health benchmarks, the city has only met five metrics. It is quickly getting the necessary levels of ICU beds and contract tracers. Moreover, in week before the reopening, the city will work towards achieving its targets while stockpiling personal protective equipment and diminishing COVID-19 infections at the hotspots.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will also be preparing for the reopening phases. Strict social distancing might not be enforced on the subway; however, the organisation will have to follow the cleaning and disinfecting protocol. Meanwhile, for riders, it will be mandatory to wear face masks.

Mr Governor emphasised that the anxiety about using public transport is understandable, but it is clean and safe to use. One needs to be smart and keep distance from other people for their safety. All the businesses that are opening during phase 1 are expected to follow the guidelines of hygiene, social distancing, capacity, and health care screenings.

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Before reaching the first phase of reopening, Mr Cuomo gave a go-ahead for five upstate regions to reopen under the phase 2. These five upstate regions are - Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, Central New York, North Country, and Southern Tier.

Experts have reviewed data for these regions and believe that these regions are safe to go ahead, as there is no spike in coronavirus cases.

Phase 2 will witness the reopening of real estate services, office-based jobs, hair salons and barber shops with specific state guidelines to follow.

Some of the measures include:

• increased signage and markers
• no meetings without social distancing
• only 50 per cent capacity in stores and office buildings
• wearing of face coverings in stores
• mandatory biweekly testing for employees that have direct interactions with customers such as barber shop and hair salon employees

US saw the Worst Crisis in Form of COVID-19 Pandemic

Superpower America saw the worst crisis in the form of COVID-19 pandemic, which not only impacted its economy but also claimed many lives. The 4 months after the first case of coronavirus infection reported in the country, have been tough for the US. The virus has killed people in every state, and the US has reported 106,925 deaths, out of the total infected 1,859,323 cases and recovered 615,416 cases, as on 2 June 2020.

Coronavirus is an unprecedented crisis that not only devastated US but every country all around the world faced the terrible impacts on their economies and health systems. The disease has killed more than 377k people worldwide and also snatched their source of earning. In the past couple of weeks, more than 2 million Americans filed for jobless claims, which raised the 10-week total to over 40 million.

The US Sensex Gets Hope Amid Economy Reopening

Though the economy reopening is a piece of good news for the virus-stricken market, escalating tensions between the US and China continue to worry investors and add more uncertainty to the market.

Stocks in the US markets closed mostly higher on Friday, May 29, after US President Trump announced ending special trade relations with Honk Kong, as the investors feared more dramatic action from Trump. That said, the market again rose on Monday.

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