Western New York Will Begin To Reopen Tomorrow

Governor Cuomo is currently at Roswell Park Cancer Institute right now and has announced, along with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and has announced that Western New York will begin to reopen tomorrow, Tuesday May, 19.

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As of this past weekend, Erie County was still behind other parts of New York State in the reopening process, but some quick progress within the last week has our area meeting all seven of Governor Cuomo's reopening criteria:

• Decline in total hospitalizations
• Decline in deaths
• Decline in new hospitalizations
• Hospital bed capacity
• ICU bed capacity
• Diagnostic testing capability
• Contact tracing capability

Per WIVB, the final step for WNY was to find 521 contact tracers. As of this morning there were 525 identified. As the final step has been met, we are good to begin the reopening process.

“I want to watch the Bills,” Cuomo commented.

Any region's reopening will occur in four major phases. Businesses that are most essential and pose fewer risks to the general public will begin, and things will progress over time. The four phases are:

• Phase 1: Manufacturing and construction
• Phase 2: Professional services and retail
• Phase 3: Restaurants and food service
• Phase 4: Arts, sports, education, and other non-essentials

We're excited to get things moving back to normal, as we're sure everyone else is too!