New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the stay at home order enacted to help halt the spread of the coronavirus will remain in place until May 28, with the exception of a handful of areas around the state that have met benchmarks for reopening.
In an executive order issued late Thursday, Cuomo said five regions in the state, Finger Lakes, Central New York, Mohawk Valley, Southern Tier and the North Country could move into Phase One of reopening.
The order also extended several emergency "suspensions" and "modifications" of laws through June 13.
Under the first phase of reopening some industries previously deemed nonessential, including construction, manufacturing and wholesale trade can begin to resume some normal operations, so long as they adhere to safety metrics as prescribed by the state's health department. This includes wearing face masks in public and social distancing of a least 6 feet.
Other places around the state, including New York City, will not be able to reopen Friday because they have not met the criteria outlined by state officials.
That includes declines of hospitalizations and new cases of infection for a 14-day period and a two-week decline in COVID-19-related deaths. It also recommends that a jurisdiction should have "fewer than two new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents" as measured on a three-day average.
New York has become the nation's epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, with more than 345,000 confirmed cases throughout the state, according to the New York Department of Health.
Cuomo said on Friday that 132 had died the previous day from the coronavirus, the state's lowest daily death toll since March 27.
According to a tally by the New York Times, more than 27,617 people in the New York City had died from virus-related complications as of Friday morning.
Globally, the United States outpaces the world with more than 1.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 85,000 deaths, the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center reports.
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