June 14, 2020 | 1:20pm | Updated June 14, 2020 | 1:37pm
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday threatened to shut down Manhattan and the Hamptons again if residents don’t adhere to the state’s social distancing rules.
“We’re not going to go back to that dark place because local governments didn’t do their job” and people don’t take the proper precautions amid the coronavirus, Cuomo said.
He said the state has received 25,000 complaints about health-safety violations since the start of the pandemic — an “alarming” figure that mainly involves bars and restaurants.
“Manhattan and the Hamptons are the leading areas in the state with violations,” Cuomo said.
“These are not hard-to-spot violations. People send videos of these violations,” the governor said — two days after at least 200 people were caught on video partying together, many without masks, around St. Marks Place in the East Village in Manhattan.
“They are rampant, and there’s not enough enforcement,” he said of violators.
“I’m not going to allow situations to exist, that we know have a high likelihood of causing an increase in the virus,” Cuomo said. “Local governments, do your job.
If “local governments are not monitoring policing, doing the compliance, yes, there is a very real possibility that we would roll back the reopening of those areas.”
The governor said he has personally phoned “a couple of bars and restaurants myself when I saw pictures of their situations. … And I said to them, ‘You’re playing with your [liquor] license.’ ”
New York City is currently in Phase One of the state’s four-stage reopening plan, meaning curbside retail is allowed, as well as the restart of general construction and manufacturing. Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he expects the city to enter Phase Two hopefully by early July, which would permit such things as outdoor seated dining at restaurants.
Long Island, where the Hamptons are, entered Phase Two last week. Regions must see their low coronavirus figures — including deaths, hospitalizations and positive-test rate — stay at least steady for two weeks before they can be considered for moving on to the next phase.
Cuomo called it “disrespectful” to everyone if you don’t wear a mask, including healthcare workers who died on the front lines fighting the contagion.
“Show a modicum of respect,” he said. “Wear masks.”
