New York City is facing a long hot summer in lockdown with a stay-at-home order in America’s biggest coronavirus hotspot now extended until the middle of June at the earliest.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the four-week extension to the restrictions in the Big Apple, while easing the shutdown in other parts of the state.
In an executive order signed last night, he declared the state would continue the lockdown put in place in March, and which was due to expire today.
However, he said some central areas that meet public health and safety benchmarks will be eligible for reopening, tweeting: “New Yorkers can be proud. Your actions bent the curve.”
He announced the move as the state’s Covid-19 death toll approached 28,000 — one-third of the about 86,000 fatalities recorded so far across the US.
A decision on whether non-essential businesses in the city can reopen, including its world-famous museums is to be put off until next month.
Broadway theatres have already said they will not open until September at the earliest.
Meanwhile, protesters carrying toy Nerf guns, left, gathered near armed protesters at the Michigan capitol building in Lansing to protest over the state’s lockdown.
President Donald Trump has vowed to prepare for future pandemics by bringing the manufacturing of medical supplies back to the US.
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” he said on a visit to a Pennsylvania distributor of equipment.
