The worst may be over for New York.
During the week of April 27, deaths due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) dropped
significantly, with hospital admissions dropping below 70% from the beginning of the month,
according to The New York Times.
The USNS Comfort, a hospital ship deployed to assist New York City’s overflow of COVID-19
patients, is set to leave New York City on April 30.
As the state prepares for its gradual opening starting May 15, Governor Andrew Cuomo
announced a 12-step plan for reopening, which includes a steady process of opening up
businesses one “phase” at a time. The reopening plan will not yet apply to New York City,
which is still too densely populated with COVID-19 cases.
“It’s a very fact-based, data-driven reopening plan for regions that would keep them safe and
allow the economy to reopen in phases,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Construction and manufacturing companies are the first phase of businesses allowed to re-open,
according to The New York Times.
The next phase of businesses to be evaluated will be reopened based on how essential they are to
the population. Each phase of reopening will be closely monitored.
“People are feeling emotional. Emotions cannot drive our reopening process,” said Cuomo.
With areas of the U.S. slowly reopening, a new monster is taking the place of the pandemic:
economic recession. This past quarter, the economy shrank 4.8 percent in its first quarter,
according to USA Today. This is the biggest drop since the 2008 Great Recession.
However, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expects the economy to “bounce back” by the
summer, according to The Times.
After virus reached its peak, New York prepares to reopen
