New York issues a ‘pause’ on nonessential services and gatherings. Here’s what that means.
Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
The new restrictions are aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19 throughout New York state
As the number of COVID-19 cases balloons throughout New York—which now has the most confirmed cases in the United States—Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered all non-essential retailers and businesses to close, and for residents across the state to stay home as much as possible in an effort to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“We need everyone to be safe, or no one can be safe,” Cuomo said during a press conference announcing the new regulations. “This is not life as usual. Accept it, realize it, and deal with it.”
The executive order, which Cuomo calls PAUSE—which stands for “Policies Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone”—will take effect at 8 p.m. on March 22, according to the governor. It mandates that any businesses not deemed “essential” must keep 100 percent of their workforce home. Any businesses that do not comply could face fines or enforcement measures.
What qualifies as an essential business is fairly broad: The list includes hospitals and other health care facilities (including vets and walk-in clinics); utilities; mass transit and airports; retailers like grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware stores, farmers markets, and restaurants (for delivery only); banks and other financial institutions; services like mail delivery, trash collection, laundromats, auto repair (but, notably, not bike repair), and child care; news media; construction; and groups that provide services to the homeless and other vulnerable New Yorkers. Those businesses must also take steps to ensure that patrons are able to practice social distancing—spacing lines with at least six feet between each person, for example.
What’s nonessential: bars, restaurants, malls, movie theaters, gyms, businesses providing grooming services (barbershops, nail salons, and hairdressers), casinos, theaters, sporting events, and “worship services.”
Cuomo: “This is not life as usual. Accept it, realize it, and deal with it.”
More details —> pic.twitter.com/1mLTKMAYkX
— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) March 20, 2020
The order also mandates that New Yorkers to halt any gatherings “of any size, for any reason” for the foreseeable future, although it stops short of discouraging people to leave their homes entirely. Instead, it states that people should continue to practice social distancing, and limit activities to things that can be done alone or while maintaining at least six feet of distance between themselves and others. (So going for a solo run is fine; playing a game of basketball with some friends or hosting a dinner party, not so much.)
New Yorkers over the age of 70 or who are otherwise considered “vulnerable” are discouraged from leaving their homes at all. Fines or penalties were not immediately announced for individuals who do not heed the governor’s mandate.
The moves comes after city and state lawmakers increasingly called for Cuomo to adopt a shelter-in-place model for New York, following the lead of places like San Francisco—which went into effect earlier this week—and Los Angeles county. On Thursday night, California Gov. Gavin Newsom instructed the state’s 40 million residents to stay indoors under an order he called “safer at home.”
Over the past few days, Mayor Bill de Blasio has joined other officials in calling for a San Francisco-like order for the city. “We need to go to a shelter in place model,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on The Brian Lehrer Show on Friday morning. “If we don’t slow [the spread of COVID-19] down, our hospitals will simply not be able to handle the burden.” Cuomo issued the new guidances an hour after that appearance.
New Yorkers have already been told repeatedly to hunker down, but officials had, until Friday, not gone so far as to legally mandate it. Cuomo, in particular, bristled at the “shelter in place” language, and refused to call this new policy by that name.
“This is about saving lives,” Cuomo said during the press conference. “If everything we do saves just one life, I’ll be happy.”
This is a developing story; more information will be added as it becomes available.
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