According to both NY Governor Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City will very likely see itself in Orange Zone status in the near future . This comes as the city and state are facing rising COVID-19 positivity rates, hospitalizations and greater spreads of the virus.
COVID-19 Orange Zone Status entails the full or partial closure of non-essential businesses.
With New York City having reached the 3% threshold for the 7 day average positivity rate (for which it closed in person school attendance) the state has its own concerns over the spread of the Coronavirus.
Edit:
We expressed confusion earlier as to the methodology used in determining how a zone would reach orange status. At present, a good portion of the city is at yellow due to its having been above 2.5% over the length of 10 days. The same applies to a attaining Orange zone status yet with a percentile of 3.0%, and above, for a length of 10 days.
It’s something which the Governor touched upon previously when introducing the Cluster Zones approach alongside the new COVID-19 Zone Lookup Tools and Maps presented by the city.
The Governor went over these same details during his press conference today in response to a question posed to him.
“If New York City hits three percent, makes it an orange zone, and if New York City wanted to reopen the schools, we’d have to design a different formula for New York City because by volume we couldn’t test every student in New York City,” said the Governor yesterday.
Mayor de Blasio speaking this morning during today’s press conference:
“The Governor made clear yesterday that it’s just a matter of time before indoor dining will close and other types of things – gyms and other things. Anyone who heard those words “orange zone” yesterday – the orange zone rules are clear and New York City will, before long, be in that orange zone status. I talked to the Governor at length about this yesterday and that means those restrictions are coming … It’s just a matter of time, it’s very likely to be in the next week or two.”
For clarity, the following illustrates what Orange Zone Status would entail:
Activity Guidance
| Houses of Worship | Houses of worship may remain open at 33% capacity, up to a maximum of 25 people, whichever is fewer. |
|---|---|
| Gatherings | Non-essential gatherings must be limited to no more than 10 people for both indoor and outdoor settings. Any individual who encourages, promotes or organizes mass gatherings may be fined up to $15,000/day. |
| Businesses | Businesses including gyms and fitness centers, and personal care services, including barbers, hair salons, spas, tattoo or piercing parlors, nail technicians and nail salons, cosmetologists, estheticians, the provision of laser hair removal and electrolysis, etc. must close. |
| Dining | Restaurants, bars, cafes and other food service establishments can provide outdoor dining and takeout and delivery service only. There is a four-person maximum per table. No indoor dining is allowed. |
| Schools | All New York City public schools and nonpublic schools must close and return to full remote learning. |
