Town Pleads With State To Delay Hotel Openings, Prevent New Surge

EAST HAMPTON, NY— With Memorial Day coming and state and county beaches set to open Friday, East Hampton town officials are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to delay hotel and motel openings until later in the state's reopening plan — with an eye toward preventing a new surge in coronavirus on the East End.

A May 14 letter to Cuomo described the concern that “a summertime influx of people into our area has the potential to cause renewed outbreaks of COVID-19 and reverse the progress our area has made in reducing spread of the disease through weeks of staying at home, quarantining, and following precautions in public," a release from East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc's office said.

Cuomo's “New York Forward” guide to reopening the state’s economy states that “when phasing in re-openings, regions must not open attractions or businesses that would draw a large number of visitors from outside the local area," the letter said.

Cuomo has spoken often about not allowing "attractive nuisances" to open — places or events that would serve as a magnet to draw crowds from outside the area to that location.

Initially, Van Scoyoc's release said, Cuomo referred to reopening hotels and motels as part of the third phase of a "cautious" regional reopening of business, which would only proceed if there was no evidence of a COVID-19 resurgence.

Businesses that were shut down by the state under Cuomo’s NY PAUSE order can't reopen until after Long Island first meets required state health and safety criteria, the release said.

The Long Island region has not yet met all of the metrics needed to start the process: Currently, Long Island has met five of the seven metrics necessary to reopen, according to the state's regional monitoring dashboard.

County Executive Steve Bellone said Monday that he felt "confident" that Suffolk had met six of those metrics, with contact tracing almost ready to go.

According to East Hampton town officials, “hotels and other places of accommodation,” without further detail or limit, remained on Cuomo's list of “essential businesses” that were allowed to continue operating throughout the shutdown.

The letter, copied to New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, asked that the state prohibit resorts and tourist accommodations from reopening until the Long Island region, including the East End, reaches Phase 3 of the regional reopening.

“We are still not at a point where non-essential travel should take place,” the letter said, citing the strain on local resources and the challenges posed by the popularity of the town, and particularly Montauk, as a tourist destination in an average year.

“During this pandemic, the challenge is even more acute and the stakes even higher,” town board members wrote to Cuomo. “As town leaders, we are hearing pleas from our residents to take action to protect them. We are planning, as best we can, for the implementation of additional COVID-19 safety and control measures. But we fear that adding hotel and motel visitors to the mix will simply overwhelm our town, creating an untenable, and avoidable, surge in the ongoing public health crisis.”

In April, with crowds headed to Montauk despite a stay-at-home mandate to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, New York State Police were deployed to Montauk's state parks to enforce social distancing protocols — and close the parks when they reached capacity, officials said.

The officers began enforcing social distancing, limiting visitors, and closing the parks when they reached capacity, according to Theresa Santoro, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Suffolk County regional representative. The enforcement officers are working extended hours to address the increased crowds in Montauk, Santoro said.

"As spring weather continues drawing people outdoors to use park lands and beaches, town officials will be implementing additional measures, as needed, to reduce risk and ensure compliance with social distancing and other mandates," Van Scoyoc said last month.