NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that two more regions of the state are on track to enter Phase 2 this week as he announced the state will begin allowing some graduation ceremonies outdoors.
Cuomo said the Hudson Valley region, which includes Westchester and Rockland, is on track to enter Phase 2 of reopening on Tuesday.
Long Island is on track to enter Phase 2 on Wednesday, the governor said.
Phase 2 includes the reopening of offices, real estate, outdoor dining for restaurants and in-store retail. Find out more about what's allowed under Phase 2 on the New York state website.
Cuomo also announced that the state is going to allow social-distanced graduations outdoors for up to 150 people beginning on June 26.
"It gives us a couple of weeks between now and then, God forbid the number changes, but schools need to plan with the progress we've made so far," Cuomo said. "And if we continue this trajectory, we'll be able to do that."
Cuomo said there were 45 new deaths in the state Sunday, "up slightly" from the 35 deaths reported Saturday and 42 on Friday.
But he said the overall trajectory was down and the percentage of people testing positive in the state was the lowest it's been in months.
He said 781 people tested positive for the coronavirus out of 60,435 tested Saturday—about 1 percent, the lowest since March 16.
As New York City begins Phase 1 of reopening Monday, Cuomo said 35,000 tests will be given per day in the five boroughs to closely monitor the reopening.
The governor said the state is concerned that protests may have increased the spread of the coronavirus.
"Everything was going fine, then we had these large number of protests," Cuomo said. "We don't know what the effect of those protests are, and we're concerned about it. All the health experts I've spoken to are concerned about it."
The governor said anyone who has attended a protest should assume they've been exposed. He said 15 testing sites are being added in New York City that will be dedicated to testing protesters.
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