Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that large venues in New York City will start to reopen starting February 23 at reduced capacity with specific safety measures in place. The announcement stems from a recent trial run with the Buffalo Bills football team. The trail run admitted 6,700 fans into the 70,000 seat stadium to determine if large venues could in fact host events at large venues in a safe way. The trail run was considered to be an “unparalleled success,’ by governor Cuomo. Fans at the football game were required to produce a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours before the game started and had to sit in spaced out groups of two and four. After the game, contract tracing was put in place to ensure the safety of all the attendees.
This trial run is expected to be tested on all other large stadiums with a capacity of more than 10,000 people. Stadiums of this size will only be allowed to open at 10% capacity to ensure the safety of all fans. Other large New York City venues that are looking to reopen under these guidelines must submit plans to the State Department of Health in order to be given the go-ahead. When asked about the re-opening of large venues, Cuomo stated that “We must begin increasing economic activity and using science to do it, making COVID testing and vaccinations available, so that we can reopen restaurants and art spaces and theaters and commercial businesses.”
As COVID-19 infections begin to decline across the nation, more and more measures are being put in place to bring back live events safely. New York was one of the most affected states by the pandemic and now they have announced that they will start opening large venues safely starting February 23.
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