The man without a plan: NYC lockdown drags on DESPITE hospitalizations falling to just 63, as de Blasio admits there's still no reopening date OR plan for the subway and businesses plead 'let us back to work before it's too late'

Only 63 people were hospitalized with suspected COVID-19 in New York City on Monday - a tenth of how many went into hospitals on March 20, the day the city shut down - but Mayor Bill de Blasio is adamant about keeping the lockdown going until June at least. 

New York City is the last region in the state of New York to reopen and de Blasio has been vague about when the first phase will begin. 

It has met five of the seven reopening requirements set out by Gov. Cuomo but is still two percent short on hospital capacity and doesn't have enough contact tracers. 

Long Island, by contrast, has not had a steady decrease in cases for 14 days, nor does it have enough contact tracers, but it will begin reopening tomorrow. 

Mid-Hudson also does not have enough contact tracers but it reopens on Monday. 

Neither the Mayor's office nor the Governor's office have explained why other regions are able to reopen before requirements are met but New York City can't. 

In the meantime, business owners are bleeding money. 

'The mayor’s policies are crushing our businesses, but even worse they are destroying New York. 

'We the small business owners and worker, who are the lifeblood of the city’s economy and its dreams for the future are pleading with him to trust us to open our businesses safely, before it is too late. 

'These policies are counterproductive, cruel and they are indiscriminately targeting our working and middle classes. 

'They are exacerbating the gap between rich and poor,' Bruce Backman, of Reopen NY, a coalition of 300 small businesses, told DailyMail.com on Tuesday. 

 'The mayor’s policies are crushing our businesses, but even worse they are destroying New York

Bruce Backman of Re-Open New York, a coalition of 300 businesses  

The number of hospital beds required to reopen is only 420 - less than half what was on the USNS Comfort, a Navy ship supplied by the federal government to the city but which was waved off at the end of April.

Why the extra beds have not been added again remains a mystery. 

Only 63 people were hospitalized with suspected COVID-19 cases on Monday. On March 20, the day the city fully shut down, 661 were hospitalized. 

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Only 63 people were hospitalized in New York City on Monday which is fewer than a 10th of when the lockdown began

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Of the total number of people hospitalized, the vast majority are from minority communities. Shown, a breakdown of where they are

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NYC meets 5/7 requirements - the same as Long Island - but Long Island is starting its reopening tomorrow. The region is yet to see a 14 day decline in hospital deaths 

There were 73 deaths across the entire state of New York on Monday which is the lowest number since March 25.

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There is mounting pressure to reopen New York City from small businesses who say they have been brought 'to their knees' by the lockdown

All of the new cases are coming from either the Bronx, Queens or Brooklyn where some neighborhoods have an infection rate of more than 40 percent - more than twice the city-wide average of 19 percent. 

But both de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo still say New York City - the single largest city economy in the US and one of the most significant in the world - is not ready to reopen. 

De Blasio has added new 'requirements' to reopening and has said it likely won't begin until the first half of June.  He wants to see fewer than 375 people in ICUs across the city's 11 public hospitals before he'll consider letting out-of-work residents back to their jobs. 

On Tuesday, he admitted at his daily press conference that he had not yet hammered out a strategy for enforcing social distancing on the subway system once people get back to work, even in the first phase.

He also refused to talk about the second phase, which lets office workers and beauty salons resume business, and said Phase 1 would last 'at least several weeks'. 

'We still have to make sure we don't end up with a lot of crowded buses and subway cars. 

'As we get closer to phase one we'll provide people with clearer guidance on how to approach that. 

'But I think the central question, working with the MTA is, what's the maximum amount of service they can put into play and what measures do we need to put in place to make sure there is social distancing in place. 

'We're working on that right now,' he said. 

Later, when asked for more detail like whether masks would be handed out, he said: 'These are conversations that are happening right now.'  

De Blasio said he feels 'confident' that the first phase, which is to let manufacturing and construction jobs back to work, in the first or second week of June. 

But it will mean hundreds of thousands of people getting back onto public transport again.

At present, the subway is closing every night between 1am and 5am to be disinfected. It is unclear if that will continue when people start getting back to work and if the MTA plans to operate a reduced or increased service when people get back to work. 

Throughout the shutdown, 10,000 essential workers relied on the subway between those hours to get to work. 

They have been provided with alternative transport on buses and even in private Lyfts and Ubers, by the city, but that is unfeasible with hundreds of thousands of others who will need it when they can get back to their jobs. 

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People on the subway on May 17. Some wore masks, others did not. The subway has been running throughout the pandemic

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Every train is being disinfected every night between the hours of 1am and 5am but it is unclear if that will continue 

De Blasio's bleak outlook on the timeline of reopening means that each phase will take two weeks and the  entire four phase plan would then take two months.

'In terms of Phase 2, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. 

'We have to get to phase one and prove that phase one works. 

'That will obviously be for at least several weeks,' he said. 

There are now just two things holding NYC back from reopening. 

It needs 30 percent of its hospital beds but is lacking around 420 to reach that number. 

Another 800 or so contact tracers still need to be hired to meet the target of 2,500 which de Blasio says will be achieved 'in the first two weeks of June.' 

Cuomo's office has not commented on when the city will meet the targets.