Strict Compliance with Health Protocols Can Dramatically Shorten the Mayor's Restrictions

By Yehudit Garmaise

   What can New Yorkers do to minimize and shorten the restrictions the city is putting in place in the nine zip codes that are seeing upticks in COVID, Mayor Bill de Blasio asked this morning at his daily press conference.

  As long as New York residents continue to do the right things, the mayor said, such as wearing face masks, washing hands diligently, using hand sanitizers, keeping socially distant, and staying home if they are sick, the faster he can lift the restrictions in the nine affected zip codes. 

  The faster the community participates, the faster we can get those schools open again, the mayor said. “In as little as two weeks, hopefully no more than four weeks, but we all have a lot of work to do.”

 “You can keep the restrictions to a matter of two weeks, but everyone has to participate in the solution,” Mayor de Blasio explained. “If we all do this right, which we did before in much tougher circumstances, we can contain this [uptick] to limited parts of the city for a limited period of time.

   “Then we will, [hopefully quickly] reopen in those places, and keep moving forward.”

 However, if residents do not quickly comply with the health protocols in the affected areas, which include Boro Park, Midwood, Gravesend, Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn and Far Rockaway and Kew Gardens in Queens, the mayor fears the COVID surges can, G-d forbid, affect other neighborhoods.

 “If we do it wrong, [and people do not comply, COVID could keep spreading into surrounding zip codes and then danger the whole city,” Mayor de Blasio said. We cannot let that happen. So, everyone has to be part of the solution that we have used successfully in every other neighborhood that has experienced upticks.”

     The first restriction the mayor has put into place to get positivity rates back under 3% for seven consecutive days is that public and private schools in the nine zip codes that are currently experiencing COVID surges are closed from anywhere from two to four weeks starting today.

    “We chose to close the schools out of an abundance of caution,” the mayor said, who has implemented testing systems for teachers, staff, and students in the schools. 

    In the last few days, the mayor reported that only two people tested positive for COVID out of 1,351 test results from 35 schools in the nine top zip codes.

 “People in these areas are now [observing the protocols] in the right way, and this is proven by the testing we are seeing in our schools,” the mayor said.

    Wearing masks, closing schools and avoiding mass gatherings are the keys to stopping the spread of the virus, Gov. Cuomo said yesterday, but the governor was not convinced that with masks and social distancing in place, small businesses are much of a danger. Mayor de Blasio, however, also is still “waiting for sign-off from the state” to close the non-essential businesses in the affected areas.  

    Another thing New Yorkers can do to provide data as the city works to stop the spread of coronavirus is to get       tested.

   “Whether or not you have been tested before, please go get tested right away,” Mayor de Blasio said.

   Free, walk-in testing is available at 200 sites throughout the city. In Boro Park, free, quick, and appointment-free testing is available until Friday from 10am to 4pm at Gravesend Park, which is located at 18th Ave. and 19th Avenue.

  To find a testing site nearest you, please look up nyc.gov/covidtests for 

. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.