New York's new Independence Day! NYC will FULLY reopen on July 1, including theaters, stores and businesses as 6.3 million vaccine doses are administered, de Blasio announces
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced New York City will 'fully reopen' on July 1 as he confidently proclaimed 'this is going to be the summer of New York City.'
On Thursday, de Blasio said the city will operate at full capacity from July 1 during an appearance on the Morning Joe morning show.
According to de Blasio, the city is ready to reopen because of 'extraordinary' vaccination rates.
'The data and the science are saying out loud, it's time to come back,' he said. 'What we're seeing is that people have gotten vaccinated at extraordinary numbers.'
More than 6.3 million vaccinations have been administered in New York City to date and roughly 36% of the city's adult population is fully vaccinated.
'I think people are going to flock to New York City because they want to live again,' he said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced New York City set to 'fully reopen' by July 1 because of 'extraordinary' vaccination rates
de Blasio's announcement comes one day after New York lawmakers lifted Governor Andrew Cuomo's pandemic-era rule that customers must order food when buying alcohol in bars
On Wednesday Cuomo announced the state would lift COVID-19-related restrictions impacting the state's bars and restaurants
Reopening the city would ultimately be determined by the state and Governor Cuomo.
'State government and federal government always have a say,' de Blasio told MSNBC. 'But as mayor of New York City, we're ready to come back and come back strong.'
de Blasio did not specify if mask mandates will stay in place, currently New York state has kept in place its mask requirements - which apply when individuals are in public and within six feet of anyone outside their immediate social circle.
The announcement comes one day after New York lawmakers lifted New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's pandemic-era rule that customers must order food when buying alcohol in bars.
On Wednesday Cuomo announced the state would lift COVID-19-related restrictions impacting the state's bars and restaurants.
The current midnight closing time for outdoor dining areas of bars and restaurants will now expire on May 17, followed by the indoor curfew on May 31, he announced.
Customers will also be able to sit at bars in New York City from May 3.
City and state government have started to announce plans to reopen as positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all been declining as more New Yorkers continue to get vaccinated and warm weather draws people outdoors, the New York Times reported.
The latest citywide case numbers reported by NYC Health show a decline in daily positive cases with a seven day average of 1,703 as of April 25
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Tuesday that fully vaccinated Americans can go maskless outside, except when attending crowded events like a concert, parade or baseball game.
The CDC said that outdoor transmission of coronavirus is exceedingly rare, accounting for less than 10 percent of cases.
Those risks are mainly linked to crowded events that can turn into super-spreader events, or people who were in close range of one another, the CDC said.
This would be the first time New York City would be fully reopened since it first shutdown in March 2020 after it became the epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic
From March to June 2020 there were approximately 203,000 confirmed COVID cases reported in New York City, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.
New York City has recorded at total of 923,953 total cases with 32,461 total deaths.
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