Senator Daphne Jordan and NYS Senate Republican Conference call for regional reopening timeline

For Release: Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Albany, NY — New York State Senator Daphne Jordan (R,C,I,Ref-Halfmoon) and Members of the New York State Senate Republican Conference today called on Governor Cuomo – who finally heard their calls to begin a responsible, regional re-opening of New York – to provide data within a week on which of the state’s economic regions meet the CDC’s Phase 1 standards to restart business.

These assessments must be released to the public so that parts of the state can begin to recover from the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in a safe way. Governor Cuomo must include the state and local departments of health, local officials, local businesses, and industry leaders in this process.

“In addition to the tragic loss of life and sickness caused by the Coronavirus outbreak, countless small businesses and millions of unemployed New Yorkers have felt its staggering economic impacts. These are real people who need our help. I’ve been saying that a smart, sensible, regional reopening plan is what’s urgently needed to stabilize our economy, get people back to work, and provide a lifeline to small businesses that are on the verge of collapse. We can do this smartly, sensibly, regionally and with proper safeguards. But make no mistake: we do need to re-open New York and restore our economy as quickly as feasible because there are real people suffering,” Senator Jordan said.

While the Governor allows experts to work on the data, he must also take on the state’s broken unemployment system. Over 1.2 million New Yorkers filed for unemployment as of April 16 and despite the voluntary efforts of state workers to handle the unprecedented volume of calls, unemployed New Yorkers cannot get through to the agency, have not received call-backs, or needed checks.

The Governor on Tuesday embraced Senate Republicans’ calls and President Trump’s Opening Up America Again Guidelines, endorsed by Doctors Fauci, Birx and Redfield, which creates three phases for safely opening the economy. Each phase contains gating criteria and instructions for individuals and employers to maintain safety both in and out of the workplace.

The impact of the coronavirus has varied widely across the state. Only 7% of statewide coronavirus hospitalizations are within areas outside of New York City and its suburbs. The Governor’s regional assessments should consider cities separately from less dense populations within economic regions.

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