Cuomo lifts almost all areas of the Covid cluster, including those in downtown NY

Albany, NY – Almost all of New York’s Covid-19 cluster zones and the extra restrictions that accompany them have been lifted.

This includes the yellow and orange zones in Onondaga County and a yellow zone in Oneida County. It also applies to areas in the Buffalo and Rochester areas and other parts of the state of New York.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the move today during a press conference in Albany. The state launched the cluster zone strategy in the fall in an effort to control coronavirus in peak areas.

It includes several levels of restrictions – red, orange and yellow – based on the severity of an outbreak in an area.

Cuomo is leaving five yellow zones in place. Four are in New York City and one is in Newburgh.

SEE MORE INFORMATION: Color-coded Covid zones raised in CNY: what this means for restaurants

The other zones are being suspended because the situation has improved, Cuomo said.

In the orange zone of Onondaga County, for example, the percentage of people who tested positive for the virus dropped from a peak of 8.89% to 4.47%. In the yellow zone of the municipality, the positive rate fell to 4.78%, compared to an increase of 8.56%.

Hospitals across the state have enough beds and staff to continue fighting the pandemic, Cuomo said. No installation is at risk of being overloaded.

In addition, the increase in cases of viruses and hospitalizations that the state saw during the holiday is slowing, Cuomo said.

Hospitalizations have declined since reaching more than 9,000 earlier this month. The positive rate across the state dropped to 5.44% yesterday, after exceeding 8% in early January.

“I think at this point it is safe to say that the holiday increase has been anticipated, the holiday increase has happened, but the holiday increase has ended,” said Cuomo.

Authorities are reviewing the state order that bars and restaurants must close at 10 pm, but that rule remains in effect for now.

“When you keep restaurants open late, it tends to be more problematic,” said Cuomo. “There tends to be more crowding. Tends to drink more. And with restaurants, we’re trying to keep you eating for real, instead of turning the restaurant into a bar. ”

Other state Covid rules that exist outside the cluster zones also remain.

The retail and personal care businesses are still limited to 50% of capacity and gyms to 33%.

Home meetings cannot have more than 10 people and non-residential meetings are limited to 50. Restaurants cannot have more than 10 people per table.

Adequate social distance and masks are required in all businesses.

Since November, most of Syracuse and parts of some nearby suburbs have been closed in an orange zone. Other parts of Onondaga County live under the restrictions of the yellow zone.

Previously, orange zones prohibited the opening of gyms, hairdressers and barbers. Schools in orange zones were initially forced to switch to remote education and restaurants were prevented from offering meals indoors.

But the state slowly adjusted the rules. First it allowed schools to resume face-to-face learning with extra tests and then it allowed gyms, barbers and beauty salons to open with some extra rules in place.

Earlier this month, restaurants in the orange zone everywhere except New York City were allowed to resume meals indoors. The state gave permission for the restart after a judge ruled in favor of restaurants that filed a lawsuit in Erie County.

The restaurants in the yellow and orange areas were limited to a maximum of four people per table. The zones also included restrictions on meetings and places of worship.

The restaurants in the orange zone of Onondaga County pressed hard to restart meals indoors. They drew support from Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and county executive Ryan McMahon.

Cuomo himself acknowledged earlier this month that cluster zones are problematic because people can simply drive a few kilometers outside to avoid extra restrictions.

There have been no red zones anywhere in the state recently, although some areas had previously.

The red zone restrictions include the mandatory closing of all non-essential businesses. They also bar meetings completely.

New red zones remain possible if hospitals in any area close to the point where they would be overloaded, said Cuomo.

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