NY may reopen some sectors May 15, but not NYC

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that manufacturing and construction sectors may begin reopening in some less-affected areas after May 15, provided there's a continued decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

He cautioned that confinement measures would be extended in badly-hit areas, as New York is America's worst-hit state with over 17,300 COVID-19 deaths.

Cuomo stated that he will extend the pause regulations in many parts of the state as cases are not falling as quickly as he would like.

More than 1,000 new hospitalizations and 337 deaths from the disease were reported in the past 24 hours.

New York City, the most affected part of the state, is likely to be one of the last areas to reopen.

An antibody test of 7,500 people found that a quarter of New York City residents may have already survived the virus, though this does not guarantee immunity.

Meanwhile, other US states like Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Tennessee have begun easing lockdown orders, with some allowing restaurants and retail stores to reopen with capacity limits.

However, experts warn that most US states, including New York, do not yet have sufficient testing capacity to safely relax stay-at-home orders.