The Great Coverup: Gov. Cuomo orders state residents to wear face masks in public

Fast Facts:

• The governor issued new rules requiring that all people in public in New York state must wear a mask or mouth/nose covering

• The new rule will allow three days for all people to comply before facing disciplinary action

• 752 state residents died yesterday, bringing the total to 11,586

• Total hospitalizations declined

• The state is shipping 50 ventilators to Maryland 100 to Michigan

 

 

People who go out in public in New York will be required to wear face masks or a cloth facial covering under an executive order issued by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that goes into effect in three days. Cuomo made the announcement at an Albany news conference this afternoon.

The masks could be as simple as a cloth bandanna or as complex as an N95 respirator. The executive order does not contain specifications for mask design but does require that the nose and mouth be covered. It requires that a mask be used whenever social distancing of at least six feet from other people cannot be maintained.

The mask or cloth covering would be required on public transit, on streets that are busy with pedestrians, in public parks or in another situation in public.

Cuomo said there will be no penalty for noncompliance at the outset but he did raise the prospect of a summons similar to those issued for jaywalking being imposed if people ignore the requirement. He also indicated that people who ignore the requirement and refuse to comply if asked to do so by a police officer would not be arrested, at least for the time being.

“If you are going out for a walk and you come to a place where you can’t maintain social distancing you have to have a mask,” Cuomo said. “I don’t want to go to a penalty yet. It’s an executive order. If people don’t follow it we could do a civil penalty. You’re not going to go to jail for not wearing a mask.”

He said that local governments should start to enforce the executive order and he expects that people will start to enforce it among themselves out of their own self-interest.

Cuomo said that enough pressure has been removed from the hospital system in New York regarding COVID-19 patients in need of ventilators that the state is able to send some of what it has to other states that need them. He said 50 are being sent to Maryland and 100 to Michigan.

Cuomo again today recounted some of the steps that he believes will need to be taken in order to set the stage for reopening the economy.

He said the ability to test for presence of the disease will be paramount and reported that New York state has done more than any other state to develop testing capacity. New York has performed more than 500,000 tests to date compared with the combined total of 492,000 tests performed in California, Florida and Michigan.

New York has asked the Food and Drug Administration for expedited approval of an antibody test it has developed that could test up to 100,000 New Yorkers a day to see if they have developed the antibodies to fight off the virus.

He volunteered whatever resources and experts New York state has to help the federal government develop adequate testing. Cuomo said, however, that states cannot ramp up sufficient testing capability on their own and the federal government must take responsibility for creating the capability for testing to determine who has developed immunity to the disease and can safely return to the workforce.

It will require massive amounts of equipment, lab capability and chemical agents and other materials that can only be obtained by the private sector working under a comprehensive federal program, he said.

“I heard the president say last night, ‘It’s up to the states, basically,’” Cuomo said, taking the position that that states will plan for a phased reopening designed so it does no harm to the public. “States that have a large problem cannot do the testing and tracing (of person-to-person contact involving infected people) without federal assistance.”

The crisis can’t be considered to be over until there is a treatment and vaccine for COVID-19 produced in vast quantities so everyone can be protected, he said. And, he added, that’s not likely to happen for at least 12 to 18 months, but in the meantime there can be a  phased reopening with a gradual increase in economic activity. Cuomo said that during that recovery time public health must be the priority.

“The more essential a business, service or product, the more urgent the need to immediately get them back on line, or as soon as possible,” Cuomo said in reference to setting priorities for which businesses open first. “Some businesses can say, ‘I can open tomorrow. In my business I’ll have all sorts of proportions. People will not be less than six feet apart.’” Cuomo said that businesses could redesign office spaces, eliminate outside meetings and seminars involving large groups and make other moves to help ensure that social distancing is maintained to the extent necessary.

Cuomo said there were an additional 752 deaths in the state yesterday due to the virus, making the total 11,586.

The number of people on ventilators went down by seven yesterday following a reduction of 14 on Monday. Total hospitalizations showed a slight decline to 18,335, continuing what appears to be a plateau between 18,000 and 19,000.

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Westchester rose to 708 in statistics from the state Department of Health released this afternoon, with 640 of the fatalities being Westchester residents.

There have been 229 Rockland residents killed by the virus, 31 Putnam residents, 135 deaths in Orange County and 45 deaths in Dutchess. The father of Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, 67-year-old Anthony Molinaro, was one of the victims.

Westchester had 20,974 identified cases of COVID-19. Rockland had 8,474 cases while there were 571 in Putnam, 5,716 in Orange and 2,048 in Dutchess.

New York state had 213,779 cases of COVID-19 identified as of April 15. In the U.S., there were 637,196 cases and 27,866 deaths.