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De Blasio Shifts Standards On Reopening, But Cuomo Says It's Not Up To Him Anyway
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published May 22, 2020
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Kathy Willens/AP/Shutterstock
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published May 22, 2020
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On April 9th, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would introduce three benchmarks for reopening: the number of people admitted to hospitals and intensive care units for suspected COVID-19 conditions along with the count of people who test positive for the virus.
To reopen, the mayor said, all three data points must show a downward trend for 10 days to two weeks.
”All three have to move together," he said, during a press conference, adding that the city needed to see a "clean, clear pattern."
Over the last five weeks, the three metrics have become a steady component of de Blasio's daily briefings, with arrows pointing up or down to show how the numbers were tracking compared to the previous day.
Mayor's Office
But on Friday, the day before Memorial Day weekend, the mayor introduced a new standard that would rely not on sustained declines but instead "indicator thresholds."
Now, for the city to consider reopening, hospital admissions must stay under 200, and the number of ICU patients in the city's public hospitals must fall below 375. In terms of testing, the mayor said the goal would be to stay under 15 percent, which has been the case for the last several weeks.
The loosening of the criteria comes as there is more pressure to reopen the city, especially as other parts of the state begin limited reopenings under the state's reopening plan. De Blasio this week has said that he expected that the city could reach the first phase of reopening, involving construction, manufacturing and curbside retail, within the first two weeks of June.
But it has also become increasingly clear that meeting a continued 10-day decline for all three data points would not be easy, as some observers have pointed out.
On Friday, de Blasio acknowledged that the numbers have been erratic, but justified the shift in criteria by saying that "those ups and downs have been happening in a narrow bandwidth."
Under the new reopening measurements, the de Blasio administration can argue that hospital admissions and testing have remained at relatively low numbers for several weeks.
Now, city officials only need to see the number of ICU patients fall and stay below the assigned threshold.
Ultimately, the city's efforts to come up with the right metrics on which to base its reopening strategy are a moot exercise that once again reflects the ongoing battle between the mayor and Governor Andrew Cuomo to control the fate of the city.
The de Blasio administration's self-imposed criteria comes on top of those of the state, which calls for seven hospital and testing benchmarks.
As of Friday, the city has met four of the seven requirements. The share of available hospital and ICU beds is at 27 percent and 26 percent respectively. Both must grow to at least 30 percent. The state's dashboard shows that the city is "expected" to have the required number of contact tracers, that of 30 per 100,000 residents, or roughly 2,500 tracers.
Earlier this month, de Blasio announced a plan to hire 2,500 individuals for the city's contract tracing program. He said that number could eventually expand to between 5,000 and 10,000.
On Friday, when asked about the mayor's criteria, Governor Andrew Cuomo stressed that legally, the city must meet the state's benchmarks to reopen.
"It’s not up to local officials," he said. "It's a statewide decision across the board."
Tagged
COVID-19
coronavirus
andrew cuomo
reopening
bill de blasio
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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