U.S. Open will be held in New York City this summer without fans, Governor Cuomo says
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday the U.S. Open will be held this summer in New York City without fans. The tennis tournament will take place from August 31 to September 13 in the borough of Queens, as scheduled.
The U.S. Open is held each year in New York City, which earlier this year became the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
The United States Tennis Association "will take extraordinary precautions to protect players and staff, including robust testing, additional cleaning, extra locker room space, and dedicated housing & transportation," Cuomo tweeted.
Cuomo made the announcement at his daily coronavirus briefing. He said the state yesterday had its lowest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations – 1,538 – since March 20.
"And we have the lowest number of deaths since we started," he said.
"On the three-day average we are at a new low," he said, calling it "something to celebrate."
"We are basically at a number that is so low it may even be statistically questionable, because when you get down to 24 you are talking about literally how doctors decide a cause of death in some situations that may have multiple reasons behind it," he said.
The state is now allowing hospitals to accepts visitors at their discretion, according to Cuomo. The same goes for group homes starting on Friday.
He said more than 3 millions tests have been conducted statewide – diagnostic tests to determine if someone has COVID-19 and antibody tests to determine if someone has had the virus.
