NYC Moves To Phase 2 Of Coronavirus Reopening: What It Means

NEW YORK, NY — New York City is set to enter phase two of its economic recovery from the new coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday — one day after some initial confusion and being beaten to the punch by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Phase two officially begins Monday, exactly two weeks after the city became New York's final region to enter phase one.

New York City's "new normal" — as Cuomo likes to put it — still means a lot of residents are staying at home, but economic activities are gradually being reopened. Construction sites and retail stores returned to action throughout the city for phase one, bringing hundreds of thousands of workers out into the city. More industries, including offices, are poised to return for phase two.

"Everyone is ready for Monday," de Blasio said Thursday. "Up until Monday, please respect the phase one rules that are in place."

New York City shut down the majority of its economy in March when Cuomo enacted the "NY on PAUSE" executive order that shut down schools and all nonessential businesses. With more than 208,000 confirmed cases of the virus, 17,507 confirmed deaths and another 4,692 probable deaths, New York City suffered the worst outbreak in the state.

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Have questions about what phase two means for New York City? Patch has you covered:

Why is New York moving to phase two?

Despite reopening the economy, the rate of new coronavirus infections has continued to decrease in the city, Cuomo and de Blasio said this past week.

"The numbers are good, so New York is on track to enter phase two on Monday," Cuomo said Wednesday. "We did it."

New York's coronavirus infections continue to trend in a positive direction despite the fact that 20 other states in the country are seeing spikes, Cuomo said. Seventeen people across the state died of coronavirus on Tuesday, the lowest daily count since March.

New York state established a set of seven benchmarks that regions must meet consistently to advance through its multi-phase reopening plan. These benchmarks include metrics such as coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths over a two-week period, testing and contact tracing capacity and available hospital beds.

On top of the state's guidelines, de Blasio established three unique "thresholds" for New York City — new daily hospitalizations, public hospital ICU capacity and the rate of positive coronavirus tests. As of Thursday, the city met the thresholds rather comfortably, de Blasio said.

Which industries will reopen?

New York's reopening guidelines for phase one returned as many as 200,000 workers back to their jobs, and that number may double Monday as the city enters phase two. de Blasio estimated that between 150,000 and 300,000 people may return to work Monday.

Economic activities cleared for phase two include: office-based jobs at 50 percent capacity, in-store retail, real estate services, salons and barber shops and outdoor dining. City officials revealed a plan to make it easier for restaurants to set up outdoor dining — including using curbside parking lanes for tables — earlier this month.

Places of worship can also reopen at 25 percent capacity during phase two.

New York City's subway system will remain closed overnight from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. in order to disinfect trains for New Yorkers returning to work.

How will the city make sure the virus doesn't surge?

New York City will employ a test and trace program with the goal of limiting the spread of coronavirus as people head back to work and may be forced into situations where social distancing becomes difficult.

De Blasio has said the city would like to see the number of daily tests rise to an average of 50,000. All New York City residents are eligible for free testing, de Blasio said before the city reopened for phase one.

Find a testing site in the city here.

The city will employ a force of thousands of contact tracers to interview people who test positive for the coronavirus, determine who else needs to be tested based on those interviews and order people to be isolated as needed.

What about phase three?

New York City's progression from phase one to phase two was swift, occurring in the minimum allowable time of two weeks under the state's guidelines — despite a warning from Cuomo about crowds of people drinking in the streets.

New York City will need to keep meeting the state's benchmarks for up to two weeks to qualify for phase three. Industries included in phase three include indoor dining, hotel amenities and personal care services such as spas and massage parlors.

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