Cuomo lifts almost all areas of the Covid cluster, including those in central New York

Albany, NY – Almost all of New York’s Covid-19 cluster areas and the additional restrictions that accompany them have been lifted.

This includes the yellow and orange areas in Onondaga County and a yellow area in Oneida County. It also applies to areas in the Buffalo and Rochester areas and other parts of upstate New York.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the decision today at a press conference in Albany. The state launched the cluster area strategy in the fall with the aim of controlling the coronavirus in areas experiencing peaks.

It includes different levels of restrictions – red, orange, and yellow – depending on the severity of an outbreak in an area.

Cuomo leaves five yellow areas in place. Four are in New York and one in Newburgh.

READ MORE: Color-coded Covid zones raised in CNY: what it means for restaurants

The other areas are lifted as the situation has improved, Cuomo said.

In the orange zone of Onondaga County, for example, the percentage of people testing positive for the virus has risen from a peak of 8.89% to 4.47%. In the county’s yellow zone, the positive rate fell to 4.78% from 8.56%.

Hospitals statewide have enough beds and staff to continue fighting the pandemic, Cuomo said. No facility is currently at risk of being overwhelmed.

In addition, the peak in virus cases and hospitalizations the state saw around the holidays is easing, Cuomo said.

Hospitalizations have declined since reaching more than 9,000 earlier this month. The statewide positive rate was down to 5.44% yesterday after surpassing 8% at points earlier in January.

“I think at this point it’s safe to say that the vacation wave was anticipated, the vacation wave has happened, but the vacation wave is over,” Cuomo said.

Officials are reviewing the statewide mandate that bars and restaurants must close at 10 p.m., but that rule remains in place for now.

“When you keep restaurants open late, it tends to be more of a problem,” Cuomo said. “There are usually more people. He tends to drink more. And with restaurants, we try to stick to real meals rather than turning the restaurant into a bar.

Other statewide Covid rules that exist outside of cluster areas also remain.

Retail and personal care businesses are still limited to 50% of capacity and gyms to 33%.

Home gatherings cannot accommodate more than 10 people and non-residential gatherings are limited to 50. Restaurants cannot accommodate more than 10 people at a table.

Social distancing and appropriate masks are necessary in all businesses.

Since November, most of Syracuse and portions of some nearby suburbs had been locked in an orange zone. Other parts of Onondaga County live under the yellow zone restrictions.

Previously, the orange zones prohibited the opening of sports halls, hairdressing salons and barbers. At first, schools in the orange zones had to switch to distance learning and restaurants were not allowed to offer meals indoors.

But the state is slowly changing the rules. This first allowed schools to resume in-person learning with additional testing, and then allowed gyms, barbers and salons to open with a few more rules in place.

Earlier this month, Orange Zone restaurants everywhere except New York City were allowed to restart indoor dining. The state authorized the restart after a judge ruled in favor of the restaurants that had pursued the case in Erie County.

Restaurants in the yellow and orange areas were limited to a maximum of four people per table. The zones also included restrictions on gatherings and places of worship.

Restaurants in Onondaga County’s Orange Zone have lobbied for the resumption of indoor dining. They won the support of Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and County Executive Ryan McMahon.

Cuomo himself acknowledged earlier this month that cluster areas are problematic because people can simply drive a few miles outside of them to avoid the additional restrictions.

There haven’t been any red zones anywhere in the state recently, although some areas have had them before.

Red Zone restrictions include the mandatory shutdown of all non-essential businesses. They also completely ban gatherings.

New red zones remain possible if hospitals in any area near the point where they would be overwhelmed, Cuomo said.

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