Western New York is expected to begin its fourth phase of reopening on June 30. This phase will allow entertainment, recreation, arts, and education to resume.
The daily briefings gave industries snippets of guidance each day and immediate answers on why certain decisions were made.
But for some businesses, like retail industries located inside of a mall, now will not get those questions answered.
“(Last week was) week 15 of the crisis,” Mark Andol, Founder and Owner of the Made in America Store, said. “It’s been a long run for small businesses, ourselves, and local businesses. With the Made in America Stores, we’ve had the McKinley Mall closed, Galleria Mall closed, One Niagara down in Niagara Falls is just opening, but the border is not open yet.”
Now, instead of relying on getting information directly from the governor’s press briefings, Andol plans to get information when it comes out through the mall ownership or by researching online.
“You don’t want to go on Facebook or social media. You need accurate information,” Andol said. “The governor was the leader in how this rolls out. It’s very important we get that information soon and accurate because you can’t just open up tomorrow.”
While businesses tracked the governor’s daily updates, some municipal governments have no worries about there being no more briefings. Town of West Seneca Supervisor Gary Dickson said he didn’t follow many of the governor’s press briefings live and, instead, relied on information supplied by Erie County.
“(Cuomo was) just summarizing what’s going to be implemented,” Dickson said. “What’s important is the details.”
Dickson pointed out how Erie County continually supplied local governments with important state links such as Empire State Development’s guidance on subjects like youth sports.