Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Ask An Epidemiologist: Is New York Reopening Too Fast?
By
Danny Lewis
Published Mar 19, 2021
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
SETH WENIG/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
By
Danny Lewis
Published Mar 19, 2021
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
New York City restaurants can now open indoor dining at 50% capacity. On Monday, public high schoolers will be back in class, while yoga and spin classes get up and running again. Shakespeare is returning to Central Park. And after a year where athletes played to empty stadium stands filled out with cardboard cutouts and digitally-inserted fans, New Yorkers will be allowed to attend sporting events in time for the opening day of baseball season.
The push to reopen these and other parts of the state’s economy comes at a surreal moment: just a year ago, New York slammed shut amid skyrocketing deaths, packed hospitals, and refrigerated trucks-turned-mobile-morgues—all in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus. But now more than 7 million doses of three effective coronavirus vaccines have been deposited in the arms of people across the state. Tens of thousands of COVID-19 tests are run every day, while the infection rate, hospitalizations, and deaths are declining. All of which Governor Andrew Cuomo says is an indicator that it’s time to start the After Times.
“COVID's coming down, vaccine rates are going up. Start to look to the future aggressively and let's get back to life and living and get that economy running because it is safe,” said Governor Cuomo, at a press conference Thursday announcing that stadiums and arenas will soon be able to let fans back in the door.
Not everyone shares the governor’s optimism. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the state did not consult with City Hall in deciding to allow indoor fitness classes to reopen, and Cuomo’s recent announcements come amid multiple investigations and sexual harassment scandals involving his administration.
Epidemiologists say the truth likely lies somewhere in between. Rachael Piltch-Loeb, an associate research scientist at the NYU School of Global Public Health, thinks the question of what’s safe to do and what’s not is nuanced.
“If I was making a decision about which stadiums to be opening, it makes sense to focus on Yankee Stadium rather than Madison Square Garden, because we can feel a little bit more confident in people gathering in an outdoor setting,” she said.
Pitch-Loeb said it’s also important to consider the knock-on effects of aggressively reopening swathes of the economy. Reopening Yankee Stadium and Citi Field for ball games will mean reducing the hours that those venues can be used as mass vaccination sites. And while ticket holders are required to present proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test, that could also lead to longer wait times for results as testing labs take on the increased demand.
CUNY School of Public Health epidemiologist Denis Nash agrees that things are much safer than they were at this time last year. He says reopening quickly is precarious, given that stadium gates and fitness center doors don’t stop the virus from spreading.
“We also need to keep in mind things that happened on the way to and from these events,” Nash said, “as well as the employees, the ticket takers, the people that are working in food vending areas that are coming into contact with a lot of people over the course of the event that we need to be very concerned about.”
The “gray area” of the moment comes through in the data, as well. While hospitalizations and deaths are declining, positivity rates across the five boroughs have more or less flattened to an average of just more than 6 percent.
“I still would encourage us to be incredibly cautious as we go about reopening,” said Piltch-Loeb. “But I also think that we need to have some perspective that we're not a hundred percent in a space of doom and gloom.”
Tagged
COVID-19
ask an epidemiologist
coronavirus
new york
reopening
Danny Lewis
Danny Lewis is a former Gothamist and WNYC reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .