New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed Tuesday that New York's economy will reopen region-by-region from the COVID 19 shutdown.
Holding his daily briefing in Buffalo, Cuomo announced that Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul will act as a special advisor on when Western New York should reopen, and Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce President Bob Duffy will do the same for Rochester and the Finger Lakes Region. But Cuomo said in each case, it will be testing data plus data on hospitalization rates and infection rates that drives the decision on when each part of the state will reopen.
As a start, Cuomo said hospitals in regions of the state where infection rates are low will be allowed to resume outpatient elective surgical procedures.
Cuomo says the re-openings are being planned now.
In statewide terms, the number of new cases reporting to hospitals statewide was 1,300 over the past 24 hours. That's continuing to drop. There were 481 deaths statewide, again continuing to drop.
Cuomo is on his way to the White House to meet with President Trump. He says he'll reinforce his belief that the federal government should take care of clearing the international supply chain for COVID-19 testing supplies while the states handle the testing procedures.