Acting on a commitment to coordinate regional policies in response to COVID-19, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, and Delaware Governor John Carney today announced a multi-state agreement to reopen public and private beaches with certain restrictions in place effective, Friday, May 22. This approach will better align the states’ policies ahead of the summer months.
“With Memorial Day weekend fast approaching and warmer weather on the way, we want to make sure New Yorkers and residents of our neighboring states are able to safely enjoy outdoor recreational activities,” Governor Cuomo said. “We have been coordinating with other states throughout this entire pandemic, and we have worked on an agreement allowing beaches to be open with proper social distancing and other public health protections in place so we can begin establishing a new normal without jeopardizing the progress we’ve already made.”
The agreement provides for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware will all be opening beaches, including local beaches and lake shores, for the Memorial Day weekend. Pools will remain closed.
Under the rules, the beaches will operate at no more than 50 percent capacity by controlling parking areas, entrance areas, exit areas. There will be no group contact activities like volleyball, football, and social gathering areas will remain closed, such as picnic areas, playgrounds, pavilions, arcades.
“Social distancing will be enforced for employees and for visitors. Masks must be worn by employees and visitors must have masks and wear them when they can’t socially distance. At this point, concessions will not be operating. We don’t want long lines of people waiting for concession stands and we’ll ensure that staff levels are adequate to enforce these measures,” Cuomo stated.
“On the beaches that are controlled by cities, towns, counties, municipal beaches, municipal lakes, the local government can decide to open or stay closed. If they choose to open, they must adopt the state’s requirements at a minimum and the chief executive can decide to do that. If they want to impose additional requirements above and beyond the state requirements, they are free to do that. That will be done by a home rule message and those decisions should be made by the locals by Wednesday, May 20 so we can plan accordingly. If a locality doesn’t open beaches, we need to know that because then we’ll have more demand on state beaches in that area. If they do open beaches, we need to know that also just to understand the flow, the traffic, and where we have to staff up. Again, the state beaches will be open the Friday before Memorial Day.”
“A trip to the beach is a treasured past time for New Jerseyans on Memorial Day weekend just as it is for residents in our neighboring states,” said Governor Murphy. By aligning our social distancing policies for beaches, we can bring some semblance of a ‘new normal’ to our region ahead of the first weekend of the summer season.”
“Our beaches are some of our most beautiful and treasured assets,” said Governor Lamont. “We want to make sure they are enjoyed up and down the East Coast in the safest possible way, especially as the Summer Season begins. Working together as states to make sure they can be enjoyed responsibly makes sense.”
“Summer at the beach is a huge part of life for so many Delawareans. As we ease our way into a new normal, we’re trying to find ways for Delawareans to safely to enjoy the outdoors and the company of their families,” Governor Carney said.
5 Regions Begin To Reopen
Meanwhile, five regions of the state’s 10 regions will begin reopening today. The Central New York, North Country, Finger Lakes, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley Regions have met all seven metrics required to begin phase one of the state’s regional phased reopening plan. NYS on PAUSE will be extended until May 28 for all regions that do not reopen today – Western New York, the Capital Region, the Mid-Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island. When a region meets all seven metrics required for reopening, that region may immediately enter phase one of reopening.
“Throughout this entire pandemic New Yorkers have stepped up to the plate and done a great job of working together to bend the curve, and today half the regions in the state will begin to reopen,” Governor Cuomo said.”These regions have met the seven criteria needed for reopening, and as soon as other regions hit those benchmarks they can begin phase one of reopening as well. As we move forward with this process, it is up to all of us to understand our personal responsibility – that’s how this worked from day one and that’s how we will continue to slow the spread of the virus and start our new normal.”
Governor Cuomo outlined additional guidelines and protocols for phase one businesses as they begin to reopen:
Residential/Commercial Construction:
All workers must have masks and wear them when within six feet of another worker
Employers must provide masks to all employees
No congregate meetings
Retail Business Owners – Curbside Pickup
Employee and purchaser in vehicle must wear a mask, gloves preferred
Hand sanitizer must be made available
Retail Business Owners – In-Store Pickup
Requires ordering ahead – pre-arranged orders
Social distancing required in store
No more than 50 percent of maximum occupancy
Patrons must wear masks
Store employees must wear masks, gloves preferred
Hand sanitizer must be made available
Finally, the Governor confirmed 2,762 additional cases of novel coronavirus, with new cases in 44 counties, bringing the statewide total to 345,813 confirmed cases. Of the 345,813 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
| County | Total Positive | New Positive |
| Albany | 1,538 | 29 |
| Allegany | 44 | 0 |
| Broome | 390 | 7 |
| Cattaraugus | 64 | 0 |
| Cayuga | 61 | 1 |
| Chautauqua | 45 | 1 |
| Chemung | 133 | 1 |
| Chenango | 113 | 1 |
| Clinton | 85 | 4 |
| Columbia | 333 | 6 |
| Cortland | 33 | 0 |
| Delaware | 67 | 0 |
| Dutchess | 3,498 | 24 |
| Erie | 4,782 | 111 |
| Essex | 32 | 0 |
| Franklin | 17 | 0 |
| Fulton | 145 | 1 |
| Genesee | 175 | 0 |
| Greene | 209 | 2 |
| Hamilton | 5 | 0 |
| Herkimer | 87 | 1 |
| Jefferson | 71 | 2 |
| Lewis | 12 | 0 |
| Livingston | 106 | 0 |
| Madison | 256 | 1 |
| Monroe | 2,091 | 72 |
| Montgomery | 72 | 3 |
| Nassau | 38,864 | 121 |
| Niagara | 743 | 33 |
| NYC | 190,357 | 1,812 |
| Oneida | 713 | 15 |
| Onondaga | 1,440 | 17 |
| Ontario | 133 | 4 |
| Orange | 9,825 | 54 |
| Orleans | 147 | 2 |
| Oswego | 80 | 2 |
| Otsego | 67 | 0 |
| Putnam | 1,121 | 6 |
| Rensselaer | 428 | 5 |
| Rockland | 12,637 | 41 |
| Saratoga | 421 | 6 |
| Schenectady | 603 | 6 |
| Schoharie | 47 | 0 |
| Schuyler | 8 | 0 |
| Seneca | 49 | 0 |
| St. Lawrence | 192 | 0 |
| Steuben | 231 | 1 |
| Suffolk | 37,719 | 175 |
| Sullivan | 1,189 | 21 |
| Tioga | 110 | 2 |
| Tompkins | 136 | 0 |
| Ulster | 1,511 | 16 |
| Warren | 228 | 1 |
| Washington | 217 | 2 |
| Wayne | 91 | 2 |
| Westchester | 31,943 | 151 |
| Wyoming | 77 | 0 |
| Yates | 22 | 0 |