Cuomo Orders Zoned Shutdowns In NY COVID Hotspots By Friday

Facing the threat of a second wave of coronavirus, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday ordered shutdowns of non-essential businesses and new gathering restrictions on four regions in the state with soaring COVID-19 cases, including portions of Brooklyn and Queens.

The closures can begin as early as Wednesday with a deadline of Friday for implementation. They would last at least two weeks.

In response to a plan proposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio targeting nine NYC ZIP codes, the governor during a press conference presented a chart with three categories of risk and restrictions.

"These are geographically circumscribed, relatively small," Cuomo said of the cluster locations.

After examining the location of the infection clusters, the state has established three geographic zones designating the extent of transmission and the level of risk. Within the highest risk zone where the most cases are concentrated, local governments may close schools and non-essential businesses as early as Wednesday. Houses of worship will have a limited capacity of 25% or a maximum of 10 people. Only takeout will be permitted by restaurants. All mass gatherings will be prohibited. Organizers of illegal mass gathering will be subject to a $15,000 fine, Cuomo said.

In the second zone, the state will mandate the closure of so-called "high risk" activities like gyms and personal care services. Mass gatherings, both indoor and outdoor, will be restricted to 10 people. Only outdoor dining will be allowed.

Listen to Elizabeth Kim and Jessica Gould discuss the governor's plan with David Furst on WNYC:

The third zone, which is meant to be a precautionary area, will have the least restrictions. Schools must have weekly coronavirus testing. Mass gatherings will be limited to 25 people.

The college town of Binghamton in Broome County, as well as two suburban areas in Orange and Rockland counties will also be subject to the zoned shutdowns.

It was not immediately clear where the boundaries of the three zones are in the parts of South Brooklyn and Queens that Cuomo identified in his presentation. The maps had not been shared with City Hall as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Bill Neidhardt, de Blasio's press secretery, said in a tweet that the boundaries of the new zones are still being finalized.

Tuesday's machinations were the result of the latest battle between Cuomo and de Blasio over the city's response to the pandemic. The governor, who has repeatedly chastised local governments for a lack of enforcement, seemed caught off guard by de Blasio's shutdown proposal on Sunday.

Asked why he did not simply take action on the mayor's plan, Cuomo said, "In New York City, the first rules weren't enforced."

"It’s not about the rules, it’s about the enforcement," he added.

Melissa DeRosa, the secretary to the governor, called Tuesday's plan "a last resort." She derided the mayor's touted enforcement actions involving 1,000 city personnel in the nine ZIP codes last week, saying they had resulted in only 26 violations.

On Tuesday morning, the mayor had argued that city health officials had debated how to define the boundaries of the outbreaks and settled on ZIP codes. The latter, he said, presented a large enough geographic area to help contain further spread and was also easy for residents to identify.

The governor had on Monday signed off on the mayor's request to close roughly 300 public and private schools in the nine ZIP codes with high test positivity rates. Those closures took effect Tuesday. It was not clear how the new mapped zones will affect those closures.

In Gravesend, where the positivity has been among the highest in the city, small business owners said they were exhausted and frustrated by the back and forth from the city and the state as well as the prospect of another potentially prolonged shutdown.

“It’s gonna destroy the business completely now,” said Avi Paizakov, who has owned a Gravesend hair salon for the last 11 years. He said his business never fully recovered after the first shutdown in March.

Pointing out the slow afternoon, he said, "I’m standing here talking to you. I got no customers. So after they close my shop one more time, I think I’m gonna end up closing my shop for good.”

Angelo Maltavaj, owner of Knapp Pizza in Gravesend, said the rules would only drive customers into neighboring areas.

“It doesn’t really make any sense, 'cause if a customer [can't] eat here, they’re going to go to another ZIP code,” he said. “The business is gone. They killed Manhattan. They’re killing Brooklyn. Pretty soon it’s over.”

Prior to the announcement, Lenny Cancelleri, owner of Homestretch Bar and Grill in Gravesend for last 20 years, was hoping Cuomo would defer the closure of businesses.

“If you look around there’s 10 businesses in a five block radius that are out of business right now," he said. "So I guess if you want another 10, lock everything down more."

Throughout the crisis over the latest outbreaks, Cuomo has focused much of his ire on mass gatherings, repeatedly calling out bar-goers, college parties, and assemblies by the Orthodox community.

In the hotspots in New York City as well as Orange and Rockland counties, a common thread has been the significant population of Orthodox residents. Cuomo said he spoke with Orthodox leaders in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

As recently as Monday night, the NYPD had difficulties dispersing a packed street celebration attended by hundreds of Hasidic revelers in Crown Heights.

Some members of the Orthodox community have complained about the lack of outreach and enforcement by the city. On Tuesday, news of Cuomo's plan did not inspire confidence.

"This will be summarily and uniformly defied," one source in the Orthodox community said, referring to the ban of more than 10 people inside houses of worship.

In a statement, Agudath Israel, an influential Orthodox Jewish organization based in New York City, decried Cuomo's restrictions on houses of worship as "appalling to all people of religion and good faith."

In June, Agudath Israel filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed by two Catholic priests and three Orthodox Jews that argued the state was unevenly applying its public health laws. A New York federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that said the state could not restrict outdoor gatherings as long as social distancing was observed. He also permitted houses of worship to open at 50% capacity as opposed to 33%.

The organization, which intends to fight the restrictions, further described Cuomo's conversation with Orthodox Jewish leaders as "largely a one-way monologue," which it said made no mention of his plan. 

One Hasidic individual in Brooklyn said he was worried about the impact of limiting religious gatherings to the community.

"It’s detrimental to the emotional and intellectual well being of people whose life revolves around going to synagogue every day," he said. "It’s going to take its toll."