Phase 2 On Long Island: What Reopens And When It's Happening (2024)

Long Island just finished its first week of phase one of reopening businesses. Here's what you need to know about phase two.

Posted Wed, Jun 3, 2020 at 1:48 pm ET|Updated Tue, Jun 9, 2020 at 9:13 am ET

At her daily coronavirus briefing Wednesday, Laura Curran, the Nassau County executive, said the island's numbers are trending in the right direction.

"If all goes according to plan, we should enter phase 2 next Wednesday," she said.

The state's regional COVID-19 tracking system shows Long Island continues to satisfy all seven metrics required to reopen businesses related to testing and tracing positive cases, keeping the infection rate and hospitalizations down, and keeping hospital capacity open in case infections spike.

Testing/Tracing Targets

• Maintain 30 per 1,000 diagnostic tests: 8,929 / 2,839
• Maintain required case and contact tracing capacity: 1,308

New Infections

• Percent positive tests per day (seven-day rolling average): 2.3 percent
• New Cases per 100,000 residents (seven-day rolling average): 7.11

Severity Of Infections

• Gross new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents: 1.08

Hospital Capacity

• Share of total hospital beds available (seven day rolling average): 32 percent
• Share of ICU beds available (seven-day rolling average): 41 percent

Curran's remarks come as Long Island's unemployment rate overall climbed to 16 percent in April, nearly 13 percentage points higher than April 2019.

• Nassau County unemployment rate: 15.6 percent
• Suffolk County unemployment rate: 16.4 percent

The first phase of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's New York Forward plan allowed some industries to reopen, such as construction, agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, retail (limited to curbside or in-store pickup or drop off), manufacturing and wholesale trade.

Should the infections remain low, Long Island will join seven regions to begin phase two, a significant milestone in restarting economic activity.

For starters, it means people can finally get a haircut. And Cuomo on Wednesday amended the reopening plan to include outdoor dining in phase two.

Hair salons and barbershops will be allowed to reopen with certain restrictions, as will professional offices. Retailers will be able to allow in-store shopping, and real estate offices will be allowed to reopen their doors.

"I, frankly, think real estate should've been open this whole time," Curran told reporters Wednesday.

Furthermore, car dealerships can reopen for sales and leases, and film work will be allowed to resume, which creates millions of dollars in economic activity and hundreds of jobs.

But even as the industries are allowed to resume operations, customers and workers should get used to a new normal.

Businesses in each industry must remain at or below 50 percent capacity and individuals must social distance.

At barbershops and hair salons, people must keep 6 feet apart inside when not receiving or giving hair services. Waiting rooms must remain closed, masks will be required, lines will be prohibited and nonessential amenities — including product samples, magazine areas and water fountains — are banned. And men can forget about beard trims — masks have to stay on.

Restaurants that offer outdoor dining must have tables spaced 6 feet apart, and all staff must wear masks. Patrons will also be required to wear face coverings when not seated.

Retail stores must give workers face coverings for free, and employees must wear them at checkout registers. Retail stores also have to install physical barriers such as plastic shield walls in certain areas.

Office workers will also have to remain 6 feet apart, and wear face coverings when they come close to others. In-person gatherings will be limited, while tele- and video-conferencing are encouraged. Moreover, employees will have to stagger their arrival and departure times to reduce congestion in lobbies and elevators.

Click here to see more details about how each industry will reopen.