OPINION
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the coronavirus could last through December.
“It is going to be four months, six months, nine months,” Cuomo said Sunday during a press conference. “We’re in that range.”
The Empire State is under a “stay-at-home” order “on pause” is how our elected leaders are describing it. Basically, it’s a fancy way of saying “house arrest.”
Citizens are permitted to go to the supermarket and pharmacy, but that’s about it. All non-essential businesses were ordered to shut down.
As a result, tens of thousands of New Yorkers are now unemployed and the situation is growing worse.
The governor is especially angry at residents of the Big Apple – demanding they obey his order to stay inside their homes.
“It’s self-destructive,” the governor said, referring to residents who refuse to engage in social distancing. “It’s disrespectful to other people and it has to stop and it has to stop now.”
NBC News reports “he railed on New York City Sunday, saying the number of people he saw flaunting the new mandates was ‘wholly inappropriate.'”
“There is a density level in New York City that is wholly inappropriate,” Cuomo said during his Sunday briefing. “This is just a mistake! It is a mistake! It is insensitive. It is arrogant. It is self-destructive. It’s disrespectful to other people and it has to stop and it has to stop now. This is not a joke and I am not kidding.”
Meanwhile, the speaker of the New York City Council wants to completely shut down not just the parks but also the streets.
I support @NYGovCuomo’s call to reduce density in city parks. We must #StopTheSpread. The @NYCCouncil will do all we can to make this happen. As I said last week, we must get creative, including closing streets to maximize pedestrian space.
— NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson (@NYCSpeakerCoJo) March 22, 2020
“You can go to the park but only for a limited amount of time,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Like I said, folks — it’s house arrest.