Cuomo lifts pandemic-era restrictions as state hits 70 percent vax goal

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ending New York's Covid-related restrictions, as the Empire State reached the governor's goal of 70 percent partially vaccinated.

Key context: Cuomo told a shoulder-to-shoulder, unmasked crowd at One World Trade Center on Tuesday that the state’s pandemic-era restrictions are no longer in effect "across commercial and social settings." The announcement, which did not include press questions, came weeks ahead of the July 4th vaccination goal set by the Biden Administration.

The shift applies to all of the state’s capacity, social distancing, health screening and disinfecting requirements, among other things, Cuomo said. It does not end federal Covid-related restrictions in effect for schools, health facilities and public transportation.

What they said: The governor, who has repeatedly compared the state’s experience during the Covid pandemic to its recovery from 9/11 terror attacks, said the announcement's location signifies New York's legacy of "coming back better than ever before."

He said the date of his announcement was significant for him personally because it was his father's birthday. Mario Cuomo, who died in 2015, would have been 89 on Tuesday. He served as New York's governor from 1983 to 1994.

The Medical Society of the State of New York touted the vaccination milestone as a reminder of New York’s resiliency. “We were once at the epicenter of the pandemic and now — in true New York fashion — we have pulled together, stayed strong, and achieved 70 percent immunity,” Bonnie Litvack, MSSNY’s immediate past president and a member of Cuomo’s Vaccine Distribution and Implementation Task Force, said in a statement.

Background: The governor told reporters last week that New York would relax nearly all the remaining pandemic-related restrictions when 70 percent of residents over the age of 18 had received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Cuomo said Monday that the state was just shy of that threshold, with 69.9 percent of New York adults partially vaccinated, according to CDC data. (The state’s vaccine tracker, which the administration said accounts for state- and local-run programs, put the rate closer to 67 percent.)

President Joe Biden announced in early May that his administration would seek to provide at least one Covid vaccine dose to 70 percent of adults by Independence Day. More than 65 percent of American adults were partially vaccinated as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the CDC. Several states already had surpassed the 70 percent mark.