New York has administered at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot to 70 percent of adults Monday, federal data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows, surpassing a threshold that Gov. Andrew Cuomo set to loosen pandemic restrictions on almost all businesses in the state.
The Empire State has injected more than 20.7 million coronavirus vaccines, and Cuomo announced Monday that the state was on the verge of the benchmark with a 69.9 percent rate of first shots.
“With 69.9, and we’re going to hit 70, it’s just a matter of time and it is going to be cause for celebration and we want to celebrate, but we want to remember what we are celebrating,” Cuomo said at a June 14 press conference.
The governor is expected to make an announcement regarding the state’s reopening Tuesday around noon at One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
The state will roll back restrictions like mask requirements, capacity limits, and contact tracing logs for most businesses following the new vaccination rate, with Cuomo saying last week things will go “back to life as normal.”
The exceptions where limits will still be mandatory are settings like large-scale event venues, schools, public transit, shelters, jails, nursing homes, and other healthcare environments.
Other businesses can keep restrictions in place as long as they don’t violate state and federal laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In celebration of the achievement, the Empire State Building is set to light up in blue and gold, Cuomo previously said.
This story first appeared on amNY.com.
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