Governor issues compliance warning for Hamptons and Manhattan

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Governor issues compliance warning for Hamptons and Manhattan

Governor issues COVID compliance warning to Hamptons and Manhattan

Noncompliance with social distancing, face covering rules in two locales is responsible for majority of 25,000 complaints to state, Cuomo says, threatening to 'reverse' recent easing of restrictions there

By Denise Civiletti - Jun 14, 2020, 3:23 pm

The Hamptons and Manhattan have been put on notice by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that without better adherence to social distancing and face covering rules, they may see the recent reopening of businesses reversed.

The state has had 25,000 complaints about businesses — predominantly bars and restaurants, Cuomo said — failing to follow social distancing and face covering rules. Manhattan and the Hamptons are leading the state in violation reports, the governor said during a press conference today.

“They are rampant and there’s not enough enforcement,” Cuomo said. “I’m not going to allow situations to exist that we know have a high likelihood of causing an increase in the spread of the virus,” he said.

Once a surge comes, the governor said, “it’s too late. Now you’re back up in a spike situation and it’s going to take you weeks to bring it down.”

Cuomo also warned businesses that hold liquor licenses that they are at risk of losing those licenses if they are found in violation of the social distancing and face covering rules.

New York overall is seeing the lowest numbers of new infections, new hospitalizations and deaths than it has seen since the coronavirus crisis hit the downstate region with a vengeance in March.

New York has the second-lowest rate of transmission in the country, according to calculations of the effective rates of transmissions in each state published by the data science company Systrom. New York State’s Rt is currently .80, according to Systrom’s algorithm-based modeling. The governor has said that an Rt above 1.0, which means that one person is transmitting the virus to more than one other person, indicates the virus is out of control. State officials have been watching the Rt calculations closely, Cuomo said.

“We got here because people are doing the right thing,” Cuomo said. “If we stop doing the right thing, we’ll see a very different trajectory. Look at other states and it’s not hard to see what’s happening there,” he said. Cuomo pointed to other states experiencing virus surges after relaxing social distancing rules.

“We’re not going to go back to that place because local government didn’t do its job or because businesses didn’t do the right thing,” Cuomo said.

The governor also chastised local law enforcement officers who don’t wear face coverings when in public, as mandated by an executive order.

“It’s your job to enforce the law. Why don’t you follow the law? How can you enforce he law if you’re not following the law? It’s a very bad signal,” Cuomo said.

The governor said local governments are responsible for compliance with the reopening plan. “I understand it’s unpopular. You have to do your job,” Cuomo said.

“I am warning today in a nice way. I’m going to reverse it in those areas that are not in compliance with the rules,” the governor said.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said he is not sure what the governor is talking about.

“I’m not aware of those issues,” Schneiderman said in a phone interview this afternoon.

“The Hamptons are many areas,” he said. There are lots of villages. Some people even refer to the whole East End as the Hamptons,” he said.

“The places I have observed are all following the rules,” Schneiderman said.

“Nobody’s reached out to me to say we’re having an enforcement issue,” Schneiderman said, adding, “the governor’s people have my cell phone.”

County Executive Steve Bellone also said today he had not heard of any ongoing issues involving bars and restaurants not complying with the law. He said he thought it possible that some people were making complaints without realizing that bars and restaurants in Suffolk are allowed to have outdoor dining.

Suffolk County Chief of Police Stuart Cameron said Suffolk Police have been in close contact with the East End police departments — the East End towns and villages are not within the county police district.

Cameron said police have found that as new businesses are allowed to open, “a lot of times it’s a question of educating them” about new rules.

Bellone said he is “not concerned at all” about a reversal of the reopening in Suffolk.

“I’m very confident that what we’ve been doing we will continue to do and we will move into Phase Three, where we will in fact have indoor dining at a limited capacity,” Bellone said.

If all goes well with Phase Two, the Long Island region can move into Phase Three as soon as June 24, which marks the two-week minimum set by the “New York Forward” reopening plan.

From

Riverheadlocal.com

Posted 6/14/20 8:18 PM