User:Meresquared/COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)

Impacts
Unemployment rates across the state have surged dramatically when compared to the previous years totals, ranging from around 10% in Ithaca to 19% in the Buffalo/Niagara region. All of New York's 62 counties experienced double digit numbers. As of May 23rd 1.9 Million New York State residents were receiving jobless benefits, which peaked mid-May, and the over-the-year percent change in initial claims of jobless benefit increased by 1,398%.

New York State on PAUSE
On March 20th Governor Cuomo put the New York State economy on hold through the PAUSE order, a ten-point plan that required all non-essential workers to work from home beginning at 8PM on March 22nd. It was extended in April and again on May 14th.

Plan for reopening (New York Forward)
On May 4th Governor Cuomo announced the creation of New York Forward, his plan for reopening New York State's economy. The plan is regionally based, broken in to phases of openness, and contains criteria for evaluating a resurgence of infections. As stated in the plan the criteria are as follows:


 * "The infection rate is sufficiently low;


 * The health care system has the capacity to absorb a potential resurgence in new cases;


 * Diagnostic testing capacity is sufficiently high to detect and isolate new cases; and


 * Robust contact-tracing capacity is in place to help prevent the spread of the virus."

Monitoring of these criteria is the job of the area's specific Regional Control Room, which is comprised of members of each region; some of which are elected officials. Regional Control Rooms are asked to report "the hospitalization rate, death rate, number of new hospitalizations, hospital bed capacity, ICU bed capacity, testing and contact tracing within its region during reopening and alert the state if the region's metrics no longer meet the reopening guidelines and adjust the reopening plan for that region accordingly."

In his statement to the press Cuomo said "."

Regions

 * Western New York: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara
 * Finger Lakes: Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming, Yates
 * Southern Tier: Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins
 * Central New York: Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego
 * Mohawk Valley: Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego, Schoharie
 * North Country: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence
 * Capital Region: Albany, Columbia, Greene, Saratoga, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Warren, Washington
 * Mid-Hudson: Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester
 * New York City: Bronx, Kings, New York, Richmond, Queens


 * Long Island: Nassau, Suffolk

New York State remained on lockdown through May 15th