Mayor Bill de Blasio is having the NYPD open up more than seven miles of New York City streets starting Monday.
De Blasio says the street closures to vehicles will essentially expand parks because these streets are either in the parks or next to them. He says it gives New Yorkers more room for fresh air and exercise at a time when they are cooped up.
“The open streets are going to be another way we help encourage social distancing because the warmer weather tells us we are going to have a new challenge.”
The mayor says masks must be worn in the parks and on the streets and reminds folks not play sports or gather. He says if all goes well, the city will keep expanding the number of streets made available to pedestrians. The goal is to open up 100 miles of streets.
Mayor de Blasio is pleased with a sharp drop in New York City coronavirus hospitalizations over the last month but says the number of ICU patients has only made a little bit of progress.
A month ago, 850 people were admitted to city hospitals in one day for suspected coronavirus but now the daily has plummeted down to 136
“Fantastic. That’s the good news. Real progress.”
Mayor de Blasio says there is a decent decline in the percentage of people testing positive. However, there’s only a slight drop over recent weeks in the number of critical care patients.
“We are not to a point where we can say we are absolutely sure we won’t have some kind of level off and we do not want that level off.”