Following a statement released yesterday by real estate developer Pyramid Management Group disputing claims that air conditioning systems in enclosed shopping centers are more likely to distribute the COVID-19 virus than are systems elsewhere, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo today emphasized that not enough is known about the subject and he is in no rush to allow malls, movie theaters and gyms to reopen.
The Business Journal participated in a conference call with the governor in which he said, “These interior spaces with large numbers of people that have recirculating air conditioning systems pose an issue and I’ve spoken to a number of engineers about it. You get a movie theater, you get a mall, you have large numbers of people so there’s a possibility that you have the virus in the air because you have a large number of people. The air conditioning system recirculates the air.”
In a new statement this afternoon that did not directly name Cuomo, Pyramid said, “The state of New York reiterated today that malls would remain closed indefinitely. This is both unfair and unjustified. The state cites situations in other states where bar and restaurant patrons have crowded into tight venues without masks and social distancing being required, creating greater risk for virus transmission. That is not in any way comparable to a vast open shopping center with millions of square feet available to socially distance, nor is it comparable to venues like ours with comprehensive safety protocols in place, including the requirement of masks.”
Yesterday, the Pyramid Management group had said, “While we can appreciate the state”™s concern about the public”™s health and safety, any reporting that suggests that HVAC systems within enclosed shopping centers are more likely to distribute the virus than HVAC systems within restaurants, barber shops, office buildings, museums and freestanding retailers already open like Target, Wal Mart, Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx (and others) is simply false.
“The quality of overall air circulation in our shopping centers, which also benefit from considerable open and airy corridors, is as good or better than those venues that have been allowed to reopen. Numerous health and safety experts support the view that enclosed shopping centers present no greater risk of spreading the virus through their HVAC systems than standalone, freestanding retailers”™ locations.”
Syracuse-based Pyramid Management has 16 properties in New York and Massachusetts, including the Palisades Center mall in West Nyack and the Poughkeepsie Galleria.
Cuomo said that the state Department of Health has been working on the air conditioning issue and that the state’s budget director also has been doing research including talking with a number of engineering firms and filter manufacturers. He said so far they have found that installing a filter that can trap the microscopic COVID-19 virus would make it very hard for an air conditioning system to properly function.
Cuomo also used the conference call to express his alarm at the rapid increase in virus cases in some parts of the country and to offer assistance to any states that need it.
“What’s going on in this country is now frightening and revealing at the same time and I say it is time to wake up America and look at the undeniable facts. It’s time to get smart.” He said the White House’s theory that he quoted as being “this is all going to be fine, it’s all going to go away, reopen the economy right away, get back to life as normal” has proven to be a failure.
“That White House Task Force, they had a wide range of how many people would get sick and hospitalized. They said from day one, the range went from like two million to twenty  million. That was their range. Two million people hospitalized to twenty million people hospitalized. Two million people hospitalized, their low range. Do you know how many hospital beds we have in this nation? About one million, so even their best case scenario was catastrophic. That was their advice. Where was their strategy to have an intelligent reopening that would avoid catastrophe? Where was the national strategy? Where was the national leadership? It did not exist. And to the extent it did it was wrong, and that is what they are going to have to explain to the American people.”
The conference call with Cuomo took place before today’s briefing by the task force, its first in nearly two months.
Cuomo chastised the task force, led by Vice President Mike Pence, who has said the increase in the number of virus cases was because of an increase in the number of tests for the virus that were being performed .
“When they say ‘Oh, no, no, this is just testing.’ Really? Then why are more people in the hospitals and why are more people dying if it is just testing? Last time I checked, you didn’t die from a test,” Cuomo said.
“Yesterday, we did 61,000 tests. Eight hundred and five of them were positive. That is a 1.3% positive rate,” Cuomo said, pointing out that when the outbreak was running rampant the positive testing rate in New York state was hitting 50%. Cuomo reported that yesterday there were 14 deaths from the virus in New York state.
According to statistics obtained from the state Health Department this afternoon, there have been a total of 24,814 COVID-19 deaths in New York.
Deaths in Westchester now total 1,551, with 1,418 Westchester residents falling victim to the virus. The number of Rockland residents who died has not increased from the 506 recorded over a week ago. The number of Putnam residents killed by the virus remains unchanged at 62. A total of 400 Orange County residents have died from the virus. There were a total of 159 deaths recorded in Dutchess County.
New York has had 391,220 people test positive for the virus. There now have been a cumulative total of 34,700 cases identified in Westchester, 13,557 in Rockland, 1,317 in Putnam, 10,698 in Orange and 4,179 in Dutchess.
