New York City Set to Fully Reopen on July 1

New York is leading the US in its fight against COVID19. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City is going to “fully reopen” on July 1. This time around, restaurants, gyms, salons, theaters, and arenas are set to return 100%. The only exception to the reopening is the shows on Broadway.

As more people are vaccinated, CDC signaled those who completed their vaccination that they can now remove their masks outdoors. With this, things are slowly going back to how they used to be. According to Mayor de Blasio, “This is going to be the summer of New York City”. He added that “What you have done is the reason I can make this announcement today”.

According to de Blasio, the vaccination rate dropped the infection rate. He said that “I think people are going to flock to New York City because they want to live again”. He added that “we are ready to come back and come back strong”. De Blasio pointed to the COVID numbers, “The data and the science are saying out loud, it’s time to come back”.

Reopening on July 1 or Sooner

In a separate briefing, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that he hopes that New York City will fully reopen before July 1. Cuomo said that “I would like to get the hopeful reopening date before that, I don’t want to wait that long”. He added that “I think if we do what we have to do we can be reopened earlier”.

According to the recent numbers, 30% of Americans completed their vaccination doses. Also, 44% received one dose. Daily vaccinations worldwide dropped from 3.4 million two weeks ago to just 2.7 million this week. Health officials are hoping that vaccination numbers go up once again especially now that Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines are back. J&J’s vaccines were paused after blood clot concerns on the vaccine.

Though New York is moving in the right direction, health officials are still vigilant of the variants that could spike cases.