New York is set to ease its lockdown as businesses get back to work with new restrictions on movement and social distancing rules.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaking today said that business would be able to reopen in several parts of the state. They would however have to implement strict procedures in order to comply with state rules on workplace safety.
Following the outbreak of the pandemic, New York and surrounding suburbs were hit the hardest with a surge in coronavirus infections and hospital deaths. New York has been by far the worst affected city so far and is taking a very cautious step in reopening.
Cuomo said today that “businesses have to do their part” and talked about workplaces being re-configured to allow social distancing to be implemented. He also discussed the new stricter cleaning requirements and the use of masks for some workers that have a higher contact rate with other people.
On top of the measures, New York will be tracking infections and setting up tracing and reporting to keep the virus under control.
While the business community has been eager to see lockdown restrictions ease, the new safety measures will take some time to implement and in the first weeks, people may experience difficulties at the workplace adjusting to the new rules.
Infection rates have been steadily falling while stock markets experienced a late surge on Friday – on the hope that the US economy and key cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago can get back to work as quickly as possible.
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