New Yorkers MUST now wear face masks in public as Cuomo unveils 'blueprint' for reopening the economy based on how essential a business is and if it can keep employees 6ft apart after record drop in hospitalizations

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered all residents that they must now wear masks or face coverings in public if they cannot stay 6ft apart as part of his 'blueprint' in reopening the economy which is to determine how essential a business is and then how it an ensure employees stay 6ft apart.  

Cuomo signed the order regarding masks and face coverings on Wednesday and said people would receive civil violations if they do not comply. It will apply in any public space where social distancing is 'impossible', including in grocery stores, on public transport and on busy streets. 

It came as the number of new hospitalizations dropped to a record low. The current number of people hospitalized is 18,335 - a decrease of 362 since Monday which is the biggest drop since March 16.

There were an additional 11,571 cases of the virus on Tuesday which brings the total across New York to 213,779.  

Deaths increased by 752 on Tuesday which brings the state's total to 11,586. That number however does not include the some 3,000 that were added to New York City's death toll because officials are now counting people who died without ever testing positive for COVID-19 but who medics fear had the virus.

Cuomo did not give a time frame for his reopening plan and he did not give any examples of how he will decide which businesses are more essential than others.  

It will hinge on the federal government giving funding for diagnostic and antibody tests which he said he would have to happen at the same time as the reopening. The tests will first go to healthcare workers and NYPD officers.

'We have a blueprint for the reopening as guided by testing, tracing but there are two factors; how essential is the business service or product or function, the more essential a business service or product, the more urgent the need to immediately get them back on line. 

'Second, what is the risk of infection spread of that business. 

'Some can say, "I can open tomorrow in my business, I'll have all sorts of precautions. People will not be less than 6ft apart, there will be no congregation, I won't do conferences or meetings, I can bring them back put them at separated desks... businesses can start to redesign their work place to start to think that way. 

'That's the second factor. 

'The lower risk of infection risk and higher nature of essential services are the businesses you would start prioritizing. 

'That's how we will inform our economic reopening, as we're being guided by the testing tracing, and as we're making sure we're not jeopardizing the success we've made in handling the public health issue.

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Gov Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday made it a law that all New Yorkers must wear facemasks or coverings in public  

Cuomo to sign executive order requiring residents to wear masks

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People in New York on Tuesday. If you are within 6ft of another person and are not wearing a covering or mask, you now face a civic violation 

'That's the whole outline from here until 18 months - building that bridge to the new normal for the economy until we get to a conclusion,' he said.  

'It's going to be a phased reopening. 

'The priority is to make sure you do no harm and keep your eye on the public health issue. 

'The single best tool to doing this is large scale testing. Test, trace and isolate,' he said. 

It remains unclear though if employees will have to first do a test before they can go back to work, or if people will be able to go back to work and stay 6ft apart regardless of whether or not they have ever tested positive for COVID-19.    

The face mask rule will not come into effect for another three days, giving people enough warning to buy one or find one. 

There is an enormous shortage of medical masks and of face coverings around the city. Cuomo did not suggest where they should buy them.   

'Your right to go out for a walk in the park? Fine. 

'Don't infect me. You don't have a right to infect me. If you're going to be in a situation in public where you may come into contact with other people and a situation, that is not socially distanced, you must have a mask or a cloth covering nose and mouth. That is by executive order,' he said. 

He later clarified that a person should go out with their mask and be prepared to pull it up over their nose and mouth if they come within 6ft of someone, but that they can leave it down, around their chin, if they do not. 

'You wear a mask keep, it below your chin then when you're running, if you see someone, either run across the street or pull it up above your nose and mouth. 

'Have it with you and if you don't see anyone, great. If you're on a walk in the woods and here comes John Campbell, then you have to put your mask up,' he said. 

He added that it was 'not a big deal' and that companies should see the opportunity in branding or advertising on them.  

'When you think about, look, everybody's working so hard to stop the spread of the disease. Wear the mask - whats the big deal?' 

He is not yet imposing fines but says he has not ruled it out. People will be given a three day compliance period from now in order to get one, he added.  

He says that the crisis will not be '100 percent' over until a vaccine has been created which will take 12-18 months but that in the meantime, testing and tracing and then a treatment will allow people to get back to some sense of normalcy sooner. 

Of the 752 new deaths reported by Cuomo, 707, were in hospitals and 45 were in nursing homes. The hospitalization rate, ICU admission and intubation rate continues to drop. 

The current list of essential businesses includes healthcare, transit, grocery stores, pharmacies and restaurants if they only do take-out and delivery. There are other exceptions like news organizations and internet providers. 

While he can reopen businesses, he is adamant that the federal government is the only agency that can get testing to where it needs to be to ensure a safe recovery from the pandemic.

Cuomo said that while the data reflected that New York had managed to flatten the curve of the virus spread, the state was 'not out of the woods' - although the situation had been 'stabilized.' 

'The healthcare situation has stabilized. The fears of overwhelming the healthcare system has not happened, thanks to the phenomenal work of our front line workers.  

'People are still getting infected but we have the spread down to a manageable number,' he said. 

The difficulty will lie in labs not having the capacity to perform as many tests as are needed. 

'To do the testing you need equipment, swabs, vials and all of these things at a capacity that does not now exist.   

'The bottom line is you need large scale testing...we can't do it yet. That is the unvarnished truth. I know because New York has been doing this since it started. 

'We have done more tests than any other state near us combined,' he said.  

New York has tested 500,000 people in a month but it has a population of 19million. 

'When you have a state that has a large number you cant do it without fed support,' he said. 

He is now asking the federal government to give him the funding that would allow production to go from producing 2,000 tests per day  - where he hopes it will be next week without federal help - to producing 100,000 per day.  

When antibody tests become more widely available, they will first go to healthcare workers, cops and fire fighters, he said.  

In order to put the reopening plan into place, he said the states must decide what they are responsible for and what the federal government will take charge of. 

'We have to be clear on who does what. The states cannot develop national testing there is no simple answer to it - it's controlled by private sector companies who have been doing it at a reduce volume because that was the world. 

'They only developed the capacity that the market demanded and this is an entirely new market. When you talk to the companies, and I have, they'll say, "I can't increase my volume, I can't get enough swabs or vials or machinery to manufacture it. They also need the chemical agents that are part of the test that aren't manufactured in the US.

'It's very hard to bring this to scale quickly. We need to the federal government to be part of this. Testing now is what ventilators were over the past month. All of a sudden, we needed massive numbers of ventilators. 

'Just how do we now do it? The answer on testing is not what happened on ventilators - 50 states competing against each other. We need this partnership to do this. Once you test then you have to trace the contacts. It's a detective, investigator in the public health space.

'That is a massive undertaking,' he said.  

'For the states to do this role of reopening, we need funding. The past federal legislation has not provided it. it's that simple,' he said.