New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn’t afraid to rule with an iron fist when it comes to shutting things back down if social distancing guidelines aren’t respected in the reopening phases. When it comes to the latest videos that have surfaced from the Hamptons and in Manhattan, Cuomo is growing a bit irate at what is transpiring as many are seemingly forgetting about the guidelines put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reinforced by the state.
During Sunday’s press conference, Cuomo, whose brother Chris was diagnosed and has since recovered from COVID-19, expressed his frustration with what he was seeing from some of the area’s hot spots in terms of gatherings. He reminded everyone that we are “not going to go back to that dark place,” referencing the numbers that positive tests that hit the state the hardest than any in the country. Cuomo said he has received approximately 25,000 complaints about safety violations since the pandemic began, many of which coming from the Hamptons and Manhattan. He called them the “leading areas” in regards to violations and shared that he and his team have received plenty of videos from people calling out the violations as they happen. Cuomo put a message out towards the local government of each area, urging them that “I’m not going to allow situations to exist that we know have a high likelihood of causing an increase in the virus.”
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The violation complaints are predominantly from Manhattan & the Hamptons. Lots of violations of social distancing, parties in the street, restaurants and bars ignoring laws.
Enforce the law or there will be state action.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 14, 2020
The governor said that establishments that don’t take this seriously will be risking their liquor license. As of now, New York is in the first phase of a four-stage plan, while some areas have progressed into the second step, such as the Hamptons. Phase two allows outdoor seating, which led to many complaints over the weekend with summer getting into full gear.
As of Sunday’s numbers, New York has climbed over 383,000 positive cases. Among those, 30,790 have lost their life to COVID-19, all of which are the highest in the United States. Across the country, there have 2.13 million positive tests with more than 117,000 lives lost to the virus. With some states reopening, cases have seen spikes as of late in areas like Florida, Texas and the Sun Belt.
