In an effort to combat a wave of troubling coronavirus infections, New York City is set to begin enforcing a series of state-mandated shutdowns of businesses and schools, along with new restrictions on gatherings, on Thursday in parts of South Brooklyn and Far Rockaway and central Queens, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
During a press conference Wednesday morning, the mayor implored the public to follow the new rules which were laid out by Governor Andrew Cuomo the previous day. The restrictions, which are organized by three concentric geographic zones, will last for at least 14 days or until cases and positivity rates decline.
In the "red zone," areas with the highest test positivity rates, the city will order non-essential businesses and schools to close, and for houses of worship to limit indoor worship to no more than 10 people. No mass gatherings will be allowed.
The renewed shutdown presents the biggest challenge for the city since the reopening. There are growing signs of pandemic fatigue, and many business owners in the hotspots said they feared another round of closures would ruin them. After reopening last week, public schools in some of the zoned areas closed Tuesday, leaving many working parents in the lurch.
In Borough Park, angry Orthodox residents protested late Tuesday night. Scenes of chaos enveloped the streets, and one man was beaten and hospitalized. Many of the neighborhoods impacted by the closures have large Orthodox communities, some of whom have felt that the restrictions are unfairly targeting them.
A group of four Orthodox elected officials posted an online letter assailing the plan that they described as "a duplicitous bait-and-switch" by the governor. Cuomo had on Tuesday spoken with Orthodox leaders about the shutdowns, and the lawmakers claimed he had said houses of worship would be allowed to operate at 50% capacity. Saturday marks a major Jewish holiday, following seven days of Sukkot, a harvest festival.
De Blasio on Wednesday warned that the police would be out in force and cracking down on violent responses.
"People have and will protest," de Blasio said. "But the NYPD will not tolerate people doing harm to others."
He added that police would also not condone setting fires or damage to property. Yet images circulating on social media from Tuesday's protest showed mostly unmasked Hasidic men setting fires.
Asked about objections from the Orthodox community, the mayor said, "This is about protecting everyone’s lives."
He said he agreed with Cuomo's restrictions on houses of worship, which Orthodox and Catholic leaders have both criticized, as necessary and constitutional. "They are based on fact and data that has been looked at very carefully," the mayor said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, residents and business owners were still trying to figure out which zone they had been assigned. Mayor de Blasio said the city was working on getting an online mapping tool so that the public could enter their addresses and figure out their zone.
The city plans to deploy over 1,200 employees from city agencies, including NYPD, to perform outreach and enforcement in the zoned areas.
In a telephone call with reporters, Governor Cuomo acknowledged the criticisms but said the rising caseload left the state no choice.
"Some people are unhappy. I understand it," he said, before adding, "These limitations are better than going back to close down which is what happens when the infections increases."
Cuomo's order will also apply to the college town of Binghamton in Broome County along with parts of Orange and Rockland counties, where positivity rates have been around 4%. The latest positivity rate in Broome County is over 6%.
All localities have until Friday to impose the shutdowns.
Citing the urgency of the outbreaks, Mayor de Blasio had initially said he wanted to begin the new restrictions on Wednesday but Cuomo's plan of using zoned maps complicated the rollout. De Blasio had proposed using ZIP codes, arguing it was an address category that all residents recognized. But as has become routine between the two political rivals, the governor disagreed.
"I thought that the ZIP codes were clearer. They weren’t perfect but they were clearer," the mayor said. He added that the city was ready to work with the state's model.
"They have a right to decide," he said. "They decided. That’s what matters,"
