With the statewide COVID-19 positivity rate recently dropping below two percent for the first time since early November (it’s back to just over two percent) and the vaccination rate continuing to rise (it sits at just over 31 percent), Governor Andrew Cuomo is easing capacity limits for various businesses across the state again.
Today, Cuomo announced that capacity levels for outdoor stadiums would increase from 20 percent to 33 percent; offices, from 50 percent to 75 percent; casinos, from 25 percent to 50 percent; and gyms and fitness clubs, from 33 percent to 50 percent (these totals reflect capacity levels outside of New York City only). This will take effect on May 15.
Cuomo made the announcement from the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, where he also noted that this year’s fair would return on August 20 at 50 percent capacity with a more spread-out format than in past years in order to keep an eye on capacity levels (last year’s fair was canceled due to the pandemic).
Cuomo noted that “we’re going to continue to increase the reopening. This has been conducted on the facts since we began; if you tell me what the positivity rate is doing, you tell me what the vaccination rate is doing, then I can tell you what the rate of reopening is. And as our positivity’s coming down and our vaccination is going up, you’re going to see more reopening.”