Back on May 15, when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Central New York, the North Country, Finger Lakes, the Southern Tier and the Mohawk Valley Regions were all set to begin the first phase of their reopening plan, it was assumed that two weeks later, those regions would begin phase two.
On May 28, Cuomo seemed to walk that statement back, telling WAMC’s Alan Chartock that: [When] the [phase one] reopening in the first five regions ends [on May 29]….we’ll give the experts all the data, let them analyze it, and if they say we should move forward, we’ll move forward.”
But all has come full circle in less than 24 hours. As of May 29, Cuomo noted in his daily press briefing that the county, regional, state and global experts had analyzed the data from the first five regions, and that they would, in fact, be entering into phase two as planned. “I feel confident that we can rely on this data, and the five regions that have been in phase one can now move to phase two, because their data has been reviewed, and the experts say to us it’s safe to move forward,” said Cuomo.
Phase two of the regional reopening plan includes professional services, finance and insurance, retail, administrative support, and real estate and rental leasing.