Coronavirus Reopening Criteria Has New York's Small Towns Crying One Size Won't Fit All
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The road to economic recovery in New York is now tied to seven benchmarks, metrics that chart the coronavirus' impact from testing, diagnosis, hospitalizations and deaths.
Each one requires showing a consistent downward trend that is assessed by region, reports CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas.
Steve McLaughlin is the Rensselaer County executive where more than 20 people have died.
"I'm supposed to somehow test 30 residents per 1,000, well if I can't get my hands on test kits it's very difficult to meet that standard," he said.
The upstate county that has not been nearly as affected just received its first COVID-19 testing site.
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McLaughlin questions the reopening requirements and says there has to be another strategy to allow residents to return to work.
"Target is open but the Army/Navy store isn't," he said. "Walmart is open but Home Goods isn't. There's no logic to that."
On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted the details of his reopening plan, saying he used federal recommendations and took into account the impact of what other states and countries have done.
"The faster we reopen, the lower the economic cost, but the higher the human cost because the more lives lost," said Cuomo.
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Those lives lost have been mostly African American and Latino across the state, with national projections expected to sharply increase as other states reopen.
"To me, I say the cost of a human life is priceless, period," said Cuomo. "Our reopening plan does not have a trade-off. Our reopening plan says you monitor the data."
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The question remains if regions can meet all seven benchmarks.
"You are going to lose a lot of folks to cancer, heart disease and problems that are going untreated," said McLaughlin.
If small-town Rensselaer County is concerned, then does New York City and Long Island stand a chance?