Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - When can the economy re-open in New York State? What about around the country? The answer may be closely tied to Coronavirus testing.
On Sunday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that he is looking for a “coordinated” effort to re-open schools and businesses in New York and the surrounding states, but that effort is not expected to happen just yet, with nearly 800 daily deaths due to the virus in New York alone.
“As hard as it is to still be patient, talk about reopening schools and businesses is still premature,” Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul told WBEN on Monday, noting it’s too early to make a timeline on returning to normal.
One key part in being able to make that timeline will be testing.
The lack of testing through the country has been widely publicized, and getting back to normal depends on opening up tests to more than just those working closely with Coronavirus patients.
Specifically, tests that can determine a person’s immunity to the virus will be crucial in re-opening the state.
“One of the major reasons why we’re limiting testing is because we don’t have the resources to do more testing,” Burstein said. It's not that they don't have the people to do the testing, instead, it's that they don't have the swabs or re-agents to run the tests. “That’s affected everybody in Western New York. All the labs," she said.
Until that changes, it will be tough to get back to normal.
“Do you go out in a month from now, and spend all the money that you would’ve spent on lunches and dinners going out, and spend it all in the coming months? Probably not,” said Jill Schlesinger of Jill on Money.
Schlesinger’s thoughts on the economy show that peace of mind that could result from wide-scale testing may have a big impact.
“If they re-start the NHL season, and my Islanders are in the playoffs, I’m not going to Nassau Coliseum and sitting with 20,000 people. I’m just not going to do it.”