New York - COVID-19 Covered

New York

Total Cases: 1,309,403 (January 23)
Tests Administered: 30,030,951 (January 21)
Fatalities: 41,974 (January 23)
Testing:
  • Information on COVID-19 testing locations in New York can be found here.  
  • Governor Cuomo announced the MTA would begin a voluntary COVID-19 screening program for frontline employees. Under this new initiative, free COVID-19 testing would be offered at rotating field locations and medical assessment and occupational health services centers to frontline NYC Transit, LIRR, Metro-North and Bridge and Tunnels employees. (October 27) 

ECONOMIC RESPONSE

Essential Service Designations:

  • A comprehensive list of essential service designations in New York can be found here.  
  • Essential service industries in New York include pharmacies, media, banks and related financial institutions, shipping industry, warehouses, grocery, and food production, and businesses essential to the supply chain. (March 18)  

Labor & Workforce Guidance, Standards and Regulations:

  • New York released official reopening guidance for businesses based on sector. Details for each sector can be found here.  
  • Governor Cuomo announced the launch of a new online training platform to enable unemployed and underemployed New Yorkers weathering the COVID-19 pandemic to learn new skills, earn certificates, and advance their careers at no cost. (November 17) 
  • Governor Cuomo signed legislation forbidding health care employers from penalizing employees who made complaints regarding employer violations. (June 17) 
  • New York’s Department of Labor launched a new application for residents to apply for traditional Unemployment Insurance or COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. (April 20)  

Economic Stimulus & Relief:

  • Unemployed New Yorkers began receiving an additional $300 weekly supplement and extended pandemic unemployment assistance or pandemic emergency unemployment compensation the week of January 3. (December 29) 
  • Governor Cuomo signed an executive order that would provide additional support to vulnerable homeowners and the restaurant industry. Under the order, local governments could continue to provide property tax exemptions for low-income senior citizens and persons with disabilities who own property through 2021 by lifting an in-person renewal requirement which would put vulnerable New Yorkers at risk of infection from COVID. Additionally, the sales tax deadline for restaurants in orange zones which have been required to suspend indoor dining will be extended until March. (December 19) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced that more than $328 million in home heating aid would be available for low- and middle-income New Yorkers through the Home Energy Assistance Program, which provides federal funding to assist homeowners and renters with their heating costs during the cold weather months. (November 2) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced the State’s Tenant Safe Harbor Act would be expanded until January 1, 2021, to protect additional residential tenants from eviction if they were suffering financial hardship during the COVID-19 public health emergency. (September 28) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced the Special Enrollment Period for uninsured New Yorkers would be extended through December 31. New Yorkers could apply for coverage through NY State of Health, New York State’s health insurance marketplace, or directly through insurers. (September 16) 
  • Governor Cuomo said there would be “no evictions as long as we are in the middle of the epidemic.” (August 6) 

Business Support & Resources:

  • Governor Cuomo announced a $130 million proposal to enact the Pandemic Recovery & Restart Program to help highly impacted small businesses recover from COVID-19 as part of the FY’22 Executive Budget. (January 20) 
  • Governor Cuomo signed an executive order that would provide additional support to the restaurant industry. Under the order, the sales tax deadline for restaurants in orange zones that have been required to suspend indoor dining would be extended until March. (December 19) 
  • Governor Cuomo signed an executive order extending the state’s moratorium on COVID-related commercial evictions and foreclosures through January 1, 2021. (October 20) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced $88.6 million in federal CARES Act funding would be made available to assist childcare providers through NY Forward grants as they adjust their programs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. (September 10) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced $2.3 million in federal CARES Act funding for four organizations to provide critical services to small- and mid-sized manufacturers as they adapt to changing market conditions amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. (September 10) 

SOCIAL RESTRICTIONS

Reopening:

  • Governor Cuomo’s legal counsel announced New York would temporarily permit indoor dining in Orange cluster zones after a state Supreme Court decision in favor of some Erie County restaurants that had sued over the restriction. (January 15) 
  • New York expanded COVID-19 vaccine distribution to people 65 and over. (January 12) 
  • Governor Cuomo signed the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction & Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020, which would prevent residential evictions, foreclosure proceedings, credit discrimination, and negative credit reporting related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also extended the Senior Citizens’ Homeowner Exemption and Disabled Homeowner Exemption to 2021. (December 28) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced British Airways and Delta Airlines had voluntarily agreed to require a COVID-19 test before allowing passengers to board planes traveling from the United Kingdom to New York. (December 21) 
  • Governor Cuomo suspended indoor dining in New York City, a result of sustained increases in the five boroughs’ hospitalization and COVID-19 positivity rates. (December 11) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced that New York State would receive an initial delivery of enough COVID-19 vaccine doses for 170,000 New Yorkers on December 15. (December 2) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced new COVID-19 restrictions on bars, restaurants, and gyms. Effective November 13 at 10:00PM, bars, restaurants, and gyms or fitness centers, as well as any State Liquor Authority-licensed establishment, would be required to close from 10:00PM to 5:00AM daily. Restaurants would still be allowed to provide curbside, food-only pick-up, or delivery after 10:00PM, but would not be permitted to serve alcohol to go. (November 11) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced that indoor and outdoor gatherings at private residences would be limited to no more than ten people. (November 11) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced that New York State would partner with The RealReal and dozens of New York fashion designers to launch “Mask Up,” a campaign to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts and remind the public of the need to wear masks. The campaign would raise funds for communities impacted by COVID-19 by donating mask profits to three charities working in New York and across the country to help people in need—Feeding America, Nurse Heroes, and the New York COVID Relief Fund. (October 26) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced that ski resorts could reopen with 50 percent indoor capacity and with strict health and safety protocols under state-issued guidance starting November 6. (October 18) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced that movie theaters outside of New York City could reopen at 25 percent capacity under state guidance starting October 23. No more than 50 people would be allowed in front of each screen in each movie theater at one time. The new guidance applied to theaters in counties that had COVID-19 positivity rates of less than 2 percent on a 14-day average and did not have any cluster zones. (October 17) 
  • Governor Cuomo issued fines up to $10,000 per day for Local Governments that fail to adhere to order and enforce public health regulations. (October 2) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced COVID Alert NY, a contact tracing app that alerts users who have been near someone who reports testing positive for COVID-19 and offers instructions for what to do next to stop the spread. (October 1) 

SCHOOL PLANNING

K-12:

  • New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that he would begin to allow the city’s youngest students and those with special needs to return to classrooms beginning next week. (November 29) 
  • The Department of Education announced that as of November 19, all school buildings are closed until further notice, and all students are learning remotely five days a week. Important information about remote learning devices, tech support, and tips for learning can be found on the Blended Learning page. (November 18) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced that New York State will withhold funds for localities and schools in COVID-19 cluster zones that fail to enforce public health laws. The New York State Department of Health will send a letter warning local governments in cluster zones that they will lose state funding if they fail to enforce state limits on gatherings and the closure of schools. The letter will be sent to New York City, Orange County, Rockland County, the Town of Ramapo and the Village of Spring Valley. (October 14) 
  • Governor Cuomo announced the launch of “The COVID-19 Report Card,” an online dashboard that tracks real-time COVID-19 infections and testing operations of every New York school and school district. (September 8) 

State Higher Education:

  • A regional coalition of northeast governors announced that they will encourage residential colleges and universities in their respective states to provide testing for all students traveling home for Thanksgiving break to the maximum extent possible before they leave campus. (November 18) 
  • A list of New York universities and colleges planning to reopen in the fall can be found here. 
  • Governor Cuomo issued guidance for infection rates on college campuses and mitigation actions that schools must take when the infection rate rises above certain levels. Schools must return to remote learning with limited on-campus activity when that threshold is reached for a two-week period. If after two weeks, the local health department finds the college has demonstrated that it cannot contain the number of cases, then they could continue to require remote learning or impose other measures in consultation with the State Department of Health. During that time, athletic activities and other extracurricular activities must be suspended, and dining hall options must move to take-out only. (August 27) 

Giving Opportunities

April 20, 2020

Requesting gloves, masks, and gowns. The state is willing to provide funding to any company to obtain the proper equipment and personnel.

Produced by Marathon Strategies, an independent PR firm that delivers intelligent communications and research solutions. For information, email Phil Singer at COVID-19@marathonstrategies.com