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Establishments that can fit 500 people or fewer must halve their
capacity, Cuomo said.
Broadway theaters in Manhattan must start observing the rules on
Thursday night, Cuomo told reporters at a news conference in
Albany. Soon after the announcement, the Broadway League trade
association announced it would immediately suspend all shows, a
major driver of New York City's tourism industry, until April
12.
Cuomo declined to say how long the ban would last. He said it
would be evaluated daily.
"This is about science, this is about data," Cuomo said,
describing these as extraordinary measures for a state that
includes the most populous U.S. city. "Let the science, let the
data make the decisions."
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was to brief reporters later
in the day.
As of Thursday afternoon, 328 people in New York state were
confirmed to have contracted the new coronavirus, which causes a
sometimes deadly respiratory disease called COVID-19. A minority
of those people have been hospitalized, and so far no deaths
have been reported in New York.
Cuomo said hospitals, nursing homes, mass transit and certain
other facilities will be exempt from the new rule, which state
officials said only applied to "congregant spaces." An office
building that fits more than 500 people would not be subject to
the rule, but a single open-plan office space that fits 500
people would.
In the neighboring state of New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy
recommended canceling all gatherings of more than 250 people.
On Wednesday night, Cuomo announced that New York City's
centuries-old St. Patrick's Day, due to take place on March 17,
would be postponed.
Cuomo expressed frustration with slow progress in ramping up
testing capacity, although he declined to attribute blame. The
state has authorized 28 labs to carry out diagnostic tests for
suspected COVID-19 patients who meet certain criteria, Cuomo
said. The World Health Organization this week called the
outbreak a pandemic.
"We are way behind in testing," Cuomo said. "There'll be plenty
of time to do a retrospective. We need to increase testing as
quickly as possible and get the volume as high as possible. The
more people you test, the more people you can isolate."
The state has also contracted with a national laboratory, which
Cuomo did not name, to do automated testing, which speeds up the
process. Once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves
that step, the state could run 5,000 tests a day, Cuomo said.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting
by Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Howard
Goller)
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