Coronavirus

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday defended the state’s death count during the COVID-19 pandemic after a report by the Associated Press that said New York may have undercounted the number of deaths from the disease by as many as 11,000 people.

A New York State Senate hearing scheduled to examine the troubled state ethics commission was postponed Monday over concerns that it might have been in violation of the Open Meetings Law because too many senators were participating over Zoom instead of showing up in person.  

The hearing was to feature senators grilling the chair of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, or JCOPE, a panel that critics say is overly influenced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But after an hour’s delay, Senate Ethics Committee Chair Alessandra Biaggi postponed it. 

A fiscal watchdog group is using the Freedom of Information Law to try to get New York state’s health department to release more detailed data on the over 42,000 New Yorkers who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A previous FOIL request by the group, the Empire Center, was one of the factors that led Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration to disclose it had underestimated by half the number of nursing home residents who died in the pandemic.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will relinquish the emergency powers he’s held for the past 15 months during the COVID-19 pandemic as infection rates continue to drop and vaccination rates slowly climb.

Those powers gave Cuomo the power to close schools and businesses, require masks and social distancing, and regulate how many people could gather at one time, even in private homes.

“The emergency is over,” said Cuomo, who added that the state of emergency will end Thursday. “It will not be renewed.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that most COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have ended in New York -- but he didn't discontinue the emergency powers he’s held since March 2020, and that has state Republican leaders fuming.

There are signs that the state and much of the nation are finally entering a post-pandemic period. Cuomo, along with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, eased most COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday and said people who are fully vaccinated can now go about their lives like they used to.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he’s lifting all remaining state COVID-19 restrictions, including requirements for masks and social distancing, and capacity limits at events, now that New York has reached the governor’s goal of 70% of adults receiving at least one dose of the vaccine.

Cuomo, in a campaign style event held before a cheering crowd of union leaders and others at the World Trade Center, said the goal was reached sometime on Monday, according to numbers compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New York lawmakers will likely not be extending alcohol to-go at restaurants and bars as part of their actions on the final day of the legislative session.  Restaurant and tavern owners, who are still struggling financially, expressed their disappointment.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowed restaurants and bars to offer alcoholic beverages to go along with take out food orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has extended that executive order several times.

After a weekend of confusion for schoolchildren, their parents and teachers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo clarified changes in mask policy for schools in New York on Monday. He said children don’t have to wear masks outside, but do have to wear them inside.