Of Reopening and Diagnostic Testing

In his COVID-19 briefing today, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the Capital Region and Western New York had met the requirements and were ready to reopen. The first phase of reopening means that businesses in Phase 1 can resume. Those businesses are:

• Construction
• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
• Retail (Limited to curbside or in-store pickup or drop off)
• Manufacturing
• Wholesale Trade

Cuomo stressed the importance of diagnostic testing as the state begins reopening. He announced that the State of New York is now partnering with CVS to do diagnostic testing and there are now more than 700 testing sites across the state. He pointed out that New York has "more sites and more testing capacity than we are using" and urged New Yorkers to be tested if they fall into any of the following categories:

The new category on the list is the last one: "Any individual who would return to workplace in Phase 1." 

To demonstrate that the diagnostic test for COVID-19 is not a painful ordeal, Cuomo had himself tested during the press conference.

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