Restrictions eased while virus deaths decline in New York

New Yorkers experiencing cabin fever after two months of coronavirus quarantine received an urgent reprieve when Gov. Andrew Cuomo eased the state's ban on gatherings with time for the Memorial Day weekend. But beachgoers faced bad weather Saturday that dampened crowds.

A glance at those and other coronavirus developments in NY:

DAILY DEATHS DROPPING

NY state on Saturday reported its lowest number of daily coronavirus deaths - 84 - in weeks in what Cuomo described as a crucial benchmark. The daily death tally peaked at 799 on April 8.

Reducing the state’s daily death rate to fewer than 100 seemed extremely difficult weeks ago, the governor said. That figure, considered a lagging indicator, has remained stubbornly high even amid other signs of encouragement.

“In my own head, I was always seeking to get under 100,” Cuomo said. “For me, it’s a sign that we’re making real progress.”

The amount of hospitalized patients also continued to fall, dropping to over 4,600.

Cuomo announced that the Mid-Hudson region - the region along the Hudson River north of NEW YORK and south of Albany - is defined to get started reopening on Tuesday, and Long Island could follow suit Wednesday.

EASING RESTRICTIONS

Cuomo signed an order late Friday allowing persons to assemble in sets of as much as 10 provided that they stay at least 6 feet from other persons and wear masks when they can't maintain that distance.

The surprise order came hours following the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging earlier rules allowing gatherings limited to religious services and Memorial Day commemorations. The NYCLU argued the Constitution requires the same right be extended to persons gathering for other reasons.

Cuomo's move could clear just how for New Yorkers to picnic together in parks and backyards - if they don't get too near their friends.

They can also check out NEW YORK beaches this weekend, nonetheless they shouldn't expect to enter the water, and they'd better be wearing a mask.

While beaches elsewhere in the region will most probably for swimming, Mayor Bill de Blasio has said swimming isn't allowed at the city's beaches and might not exactly be all summer.

“I’ve been really clear about the beaches; they are closed for swimming,” de Blasio said Friday at his daily coronavirus briefing. “There will never be lifeguards. Folks are not supposed to visit the beach to swim.”

The threat of swimming without lifeguards working was made clear Friday whenever a 24-year-old man drowned off Rockaway Beach in Queens.

The primary reason the mayor has cited for the swimming ban was to curb the spread of the virus by keeping people off public transportation.

Memorial Day weekend marks the start of beach season in NEW YORK, with - in normal years - lifeguards starting duty and swimming permitted.

However the forecast was significantly less than ideal for the holiday weekend, with rain Saturday and clouds expected Sunday.

At Orchard Beach in the Bronx, that was crowded a weekend earlier during ideal outdoor weather, the parking lots were largely empty except for the large puddles that had formed after a morning of steady rain and occasional rumbles of thunder. A traffic sign outside the park warned that there is no swimming or barbecuing allowed, but there were few people around to learn it.

While beaches on Long Island or in NJ are generally reached by driving, city residents typically take the subway to summertime destinations like Coney Island or Rockaway Beach.

Under guidelines designed to keep crowds from flocking to the beaches, persons who live local can go there to walk or even to sit, de Blasio said. Hundreds of police officers and civilian city workers will be on hand to disperse gatherings that violate social distancing rules also to give away masks to persons who aren't wearing them, he said.

“I’m very hopeful that this weekend at our beaches, you’re going to see people following a rules because they know it’s the proper thing to do,” de Blasio said. “But if indeed they need some reminders, of course there’ll be persons out there educating, offering face coverings.”

While most of New York state has begun to help ease restrictions, de Blasio and Cuomo, both Democrats, have said that NEW YORK, the epicenter of the virus outbreak in the usa, is still weeks away from starting to reopen.

DISCHARGES TO ASSISTED LIVING FACILITIES

Cuomo’s administration claimed incorrectly Saturday that it has released all the details it has in regards to an Associated Press obtain the number of COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals to nursing homes.

The AP compiled its tally of the amount of such patients discharged under a controversial order following the state Health Department refused release a an interior survey it conducted fourteen days ago. The AP counted a lot more than 4,500 recovering coronavirus patients delivered to nursing homes.

But at Cuomo's news briefing Saturday, aide Melissa DeRosa answered an AP reporter’s question about the inner survey by saying there isn’t “any information we've that people haven’t released at this stage."

The AP has not received the results of the survey, which it first requested May 15.

Cuomo again deflected criticism for the since-rescinded directive that required assisted living facilities to admit coronavirus patients. The March 25 order had been intended to help free up hospital beds for the sickest patients as cases surged, but critics have said it fueled deadly outbreaks among the state’s most vulnerable population.

“We’re in a political environment, I obtain it,” Cuomo said Saturday, insisting his administration followed U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. “To the extent persons want to politicize this matter ... New York followed the president’s agency’s guidance. In order that depoliticizes it. What New York did was follow what the Republican administration said to do.”