New York Will ‘Supercharge’ the Reopening
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says New York State is going to "supercharge" the reopening statewide.
On Tuesday during his COVID-19 briefing, Cuomo confirmed the Mid-Hudson Region has entered Phase 1 of the four-phase reopening.
"The Mid-Hudson Region begins Phase 1 reopening today, having now met all the required metrics," he said.
He said Long Island will reopen on Wednesday.
Cuomo said it will be the job of the county executives to "pounce on it" if there is a rise in COVID-19 infections in any region.
"As more regions of the state begin reopening, we are carefully monitoring health data to make sure that everything is going in the right direction," Cuomo tweeted. "We rely on science and data to guide us — not emotion or politics."
He added "let's supercharge our reopening" and New York's economy. He believes the state must "supercharge" the reopening to help the economy.
He said infrastructure programs will help supercharge the economy. Cuomo added he is going to speed up infrastructure projects like the Empire Penn Project, construction at LaGuardia Airport and more.
"If there’s ever a time to take on a major infrastructure program, it’s now," Cuomo said. "It will stimulate the economy, create jobs and will help America catch up to other countries that frankly have surpassed us. It's just common sense."
Cuomo believes the "new normal" is the perfect time to take advantage of the unfortunate circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic to improve New York's and the nation's infrastructure, which would create jobs and help restart the economy.
"We've been talking about the cross-Hudson tunnels, where the Amtrak trains come through, that are old and that are crumbling. If they become a problem, you literally stop Amtrak travel to the entire Northeast."
Cuomo is traveling to Washington D.C. on Wednesday to meet with President Donald Trump to talk about a number of things including infrastructure. He wants to see the federal government approve building or updating airports, trains, roads, major power transmission and more.