Published 07:35 IST, October 5th 2020
New York Governor assures 'aggressive enforcement' of COVID-19 restrictions in hot spots
New York will now be carrying out ‘heavy-handed enforcement’ of COVID-19 restrictions such as wearing masks and adhering to social distance norms.
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New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said that local governments have failed to do an effective job when it comes to enforcing COVID-19 restrictions and vowed to improve the situation on Sunday, October 4 (local time). According to reports, therefore the state will now be carrying out ‘heavy-handed enforcement’ of COVID-19 restrictions such as wearing masks and adhering to social distance norms.
Local Governments reach out to the State: Cuomo
In a series of tweets posted, Cuomo explained that in whichever jurisdiction the state took over enforcement of restrictions the compliance levels went up. But he added that the state could not take over all jurisdictions in this manner and therefore urgent local governments that could not effectively enforce restrictions to reach out to the state.
Local governments have not done an effective job of enforcement in these hotspot ZIP codes.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 4, 2020
NYS will be doing aggressive enforcement starting tomorrow.
As we saw with bars and restaurants, when the state initiated enforcement actions compliance greatly increased.
However the State can't take over effective enforcement for every jurisdiction. If a local jurisdiction cannot or will not perform effective enforcement of violating entities, notify the State & we will close all business activity in hotspots where local gov't can't do compliance
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 4, 2020
Cuomo also added that he was extremely concerned about the lack of testing in schools and that if the local authorities failed to increase tenting then the state would close the schools done. Cuomo said he wants schools in the state to reopen but only if they are done in a safe manner.
The state of New York is currently the worst-hit region in the United States. On Sunday, October 4 New York recorded 1,222 new COVID-19 cases as well as 14 fatalities. New York has recorded more than 33,000 COVID-19 fatalities, the highest in any US state followed by Texas with just over 16,000 fatalities.
The COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has now spread all across the world. The virus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation, has infected over 35 million people worldwide with the global death toll crossing 1,000,000. The US has reported more than 7.4 million positive COVID-19 cases and a death toll of over 200,000.
07:35 IST, October 5th 2020