Governor Cuomo puts ‘New York State on PAUSE’ Lowering Allowable Non-Essential Business Workforce to 0% Effective 8:00 pm on Sunday, March 22, 2020.
PAUSE = Policies that Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone
For a listing of what constitutes ‘Essential Businesses and Services’ visit this page…
The corresponding video of the Governor speaking can be found near the end of this page.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday, March 20, 2020 signed the ‘New York State on PAUSE’ Executive Order which essentially puts on hold the ability of businesses to operate as they normally would and places a tighter set of restraints on New Yorkers’ movement. This all comes at the end of a week battling the Coronavirus Pandemic which culminates in a total over 4,000 cases in NYC alone and over 7,000 statewide.
Two days earlier on March 18, Governor Cuomo had set forth a mandate requiring that businesses in the state allow no more than 50% of their in-office workforce to appear for work. The following day on the March 19 he raised that requirement to 75%. On Friday morning he announced that personal care services and other businesses such as barbershops, hair salons, tattoo or piercing parlors, nail salons, hair removal services are to be closed as of 8:00 pm on Saturday, March 21. All in the name of helping New York’s ‘Density Reduction’ aims for the sake of slowing the spread of COVID-19. Not long thereafter the governor would announce his newest restrictions as outlined on this page.
Most individuals following local news here in New York State and especially New York City would come to the conclusion that this is the sort of ‘Shelter in Place’ which Mayor Bill de Blasio had repeatedly spoken of as the sort of restrictions needed for NYC. A notion which the Governor, in turn, continued to reject. A shelter in place, very recently, had been placed into effect first in six counties of California followed by the entire state earlier this week. Nearby Hoboken New Jersey had, as well, brought about its own ‘Shelter in Place’.
Asked by a reporter: “What prompted the change in thinking in terms of what seems to be a ‘Shelter in Place’ order?
Cuomo:
“It’s not a Shelter in Place Order”
Reporter:
“It’s effectively the same idea?”
Cuomo:
“Not it is not. First of all, words matter. California does not have a ‘Shelter in Place’ order. They put in a new policy. It is not Shelter in Place. Because…and this is why words matter. People are scared and people panic. Shelter in Place is used currently for an active shooter, or a school shooter. It was during a nuclear event, Isolate yourself in the interior room, no windows, stay there until you get the all-clear sign. The quote-unquote, Shelter in Place policy was never Shelter in Place. It said, Shelter in Place, Except this, Except this, Except this, Except this, Except this, Except this. It scared a lot of people and it panicked people. Even California doesn’t call it that anymore. So, why am I increasing the mandates? Because the numbers are increasing…and I said, from day one, this is science and math. Watch the number, watch the trajectory. You have the density control valve. The number starts to go up, tighten the valve. If the number doesn’t slow down, tighten the valve more. If the number doesn’t slow down, tighten the valve more. If the number doesn’t slow down, close the valve. We’re closing the valve.