Shelter Island Reporter Editorial: Starting back up
During his daily briefing on Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo laid out specific circumstances under which businesses in the state will be allowed to reopen and life can begin a wary, step-by-step approach to a new normal.
He said any reopening strategy would be predicated on two critical measurements: hospital capacity, meaning the number of beds available if a second wave of the virus struck; and the rate of COVID-19 infection. The latter measurement is enormously important, since it’s a way to know with contact tracing if another outbreak has begun.
Gov. Cuomo said that rate of transmission must not exceed 1.1 — meaning someone with the virus could infect slightly more than one other person. And, he said, hospitals must have 30% of their total bed capacity available before the economy can begin to restart.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put forward another guideline: Businesses can only begin to reopen once local hospitalizations decline for 14 days in a row.
Data provided by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone shows that 32% of the 3,287 total beds in the county are now open. ICU units — critical in the battle against the virus — are about 75% full. And, the data show, COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined in Suffolk for 10 consecutive days.
These numbers are good news — or, more accurately, they’re moving in a better direction than they have for weeks.
Locally, town supervisors in Southold, Riverhead and Shelter Island are also beginning to consider what it will take to begin the process of restarting the economy in a region heavily dependent on small businesses and tourism.
Towns, villages and various agencies have been holding daily conference calls with Mr. Bellone to further discuss how to proceed.
It’s a start, and a good one.
The Suffolk Supervisors Association and the East End Mayors and Supervisors Association have been discussing a range of ideas to help jump-start their local economies, while making sure safety is the No. 1 priority over everything else.
Memorial Day weekend, the traditional opening to everything wonderful about summer on Shelter Island, is just weeks away. We hope people can enjoy the region and its many businesses and still keep the virus at bay.
