Governor Frustrated with Manhattan, Hamptons, Bellone Confident with Compliance
Frustrated with large crowds congregating outside restaurants and bars in Manhattan and the Hamptons, New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) warned that these areas could face greater restrictions while businesses could be fined or could lose their state-approved liquor licenses.
People have made over 25,000 complaints to the state about a lack of social distancing and limited face coverings in Manhattan and the Hamptons.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said he hadn’t heard of any increase in reports of noncompliance in the Hamptons and emphasized the different states of reopening between the two regions.
“The Hamptons are in a little bit of a different situation than Manhattan,” Bellone said on his daily conference call with reporters. “We are in Phase,” in which restaurants can offer outdoor dining, while Manhattan just entered the first phase of reopening, which doesn’t include such outdoor dining accommodations.
The Suffolk County Police Department has been educating businesses that weren’t open before throughout the area about the rules they have to follow.
“Businesses are happy to reopen and they want to follow the rules,” Suffolk County Police Chief Stuart Cameron said on the call. “They don’t want the rollback, either. We are working collaboratively and will be in touch with East End chiefs” to assist them in ensuring any compliance.
Bellone reiterated that he is “confident we have been doing compliance and enforcement from the beginning.”
The numbers related to COVID-19 for Suffolk County continue to remain positive.
Over the last day, 44 people have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 4,243. Those numbers continue to hover on a daily basis below the targeted 100 for the county.
While he continues to monitor the number of daily positive results closely, Bellone said he believes that the protests didn’t cause a spread of the virus if the new infections remain at this level through the middle of the week.
Being outside and wearing face coverings helps reduce the transmission of the virus.
Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 remained the same through the day ending on June 12 at 125. The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds rose by one to 40.
Hospital bed capacity remains below targets. An additional 16 people were discharged from the hospital in the last day.
The number of people who died from complications related to the virus increased by one to 1,948.
