New York City will enter Phase Four of reopening without any additional indoor activity, such as malls and cultural institutions, beginning Monday, July 20th. Every region in the state will now be in Phase Four of reopening. New York Forward guidance for Phase Four reopening can be found here.
Of the 69,817 tests conducted in New York State Friday, 754, or 1.08 percent, were positive. Each region’s percentage of positive tests over the last three days:
|
REGION |
WEDNESDAY |
THURSDAY |
FRIDAY |
|
Capital Region |
0.8% |
1.1% |
0.7% |
|
Central New York |
1.0% |
0.6% |
0.9% |
|
Finger Lakes |
0.9% |
0.9% |
0.9% |
|
Long Island |
0.9% |
0.9% |
1.0% |
|
Mid-Hudson |
1.1% |
0.8% |
0.9% |
|
Mohawk Valley |
1.0% |
1.8% |
1.4% |
|
New York City |
1.2% |
1.0% |
1.3% |
|
North Country |
0.6% |
0.3% |
0.4% |
|
Southern Tier |
0.5% |
0.7% |
0.7% |
|
Western New York |
1.0% |
1.2% |
1.3% |
The state is adding $1.5 million in funding for ‘Feeding New York State’ to support 10 regional food banks and local farms to help provide milk and produce to New Yorkers in need. This funding, made available through the State’s Environmental Protection Fund, will assist food banks hit by the economic and public health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and also supports the State’s ongoing efforts to prevent food waste.
“If you look back in history, sometimes it takes a crisis to wake people up,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said. “This crisis has put food insecurity – an issue far too many Americans are unfortunately familiar with – on full display, and not only are we paying attention, but we’re taking action to help ensure New Yorkers are not going hungry and have access to fresh, healthy food.”
The funding announced will enable Feeding New York State to increase the amount of shelf-stable milk processed and distributed to the regional food banks by an estimated 900,000 gallons; and source and transport approximately 6.7 million pounds of quality, New York-grown produce to regional food banks.
Feeding New York State’s network of 10 regional food banks are experiencing increased demand for food from 40 to 200 percent. In addition to this increase in customer demand, food banks are dealing with significant backlogs on food purchases that typically supplement donations. Simultaneously, New York farmers and dairy processors lost markets for dairy and produce sales, resulting in wasted food and milk. This funding will provide food banks and farmers the needed additional logistics and transportation support to distribute food to people in need.