When COVID Vaccinations Reach 70%, More Restrictions Lift: Cuomo

NEW YORK CITY — Remaining coronavirus restrictions in New York City and across the state are on the cusp of being lifted, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signaled Monday.

Cuomo said when the state's vaccination rate for adults reaches 70 percent, then most capacity, social distancing, cleaning, screening and contact tracing requirements will go away.

"When we hit 70 percent, then I feel comfortable saying to the people of this state we can relax virtually all restrictions," he said. "We're at 68.6 [percent] — almost there, but this isn't horseshoes, we want to be at 70 percent, 1.4 percent to go."

More shots have gone into arms per capita in New York than any other big state, Cuomo said.

New York City accounts for 8.5 million of the state's 19 million doses distributed, according to data.

About 52 percent of all city dwellers have received at least one dose of vaccine, data shows. And of adult city dwellers, it stands at 64 percent, according to data.

But Cuomo pointed out that ZIP Codes in the bottom 10 percent of vaccinations throughout the state have an average 36.3 percent vaccination rate.

And many of those ZIP Codes — which include parts of Borough Park, Brownsville, Canarsie, Crown Heights, Far Rockaway and Williamsburg — have even lower vaccination rates, according to data presented by Cuomo.

Local governments need to step up efforts and the state will open more vaccination sites in those areas, Cuomo said.

Once vaccinations reach above 70 percent in the state, he said the only mandated restrictions will remain for schools, public transit, large venues, homeless shelters and correctional and healthcare facilities.

Mask requirements will remain in place based on CDC guidance, he said.