(Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus has driven people and businesses from New York City, and “we have to get them back,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.
Top restaurants, cultural institutions and Broadway remain closed, and increases in crime, homelessness and graffiti are “aggravating factors,” the Democratic governor said during a Manhattan news briefing.
In March and April, New York City was the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. But the number of positive cases and virus-related deaths now remain low as cases surge nationwide. Statewide, 1.16% of the nearly 70,000 people tested July 22 were positive and there were 13 deaths, according to the most recent state data. There were 706 hospitalizations.
Many citizens left the city during the darkest days, Cuomo said, some for their second homes upstate and on Long Island, and some young people moved back to their hometowns. Businesses, he said, are re-evaluating their models and whether they can continue to have people work remotely.
“The business transformation is going to have the most potential impact,” Cuomo said. Some firms that have had employees working from home for four months may decide they don't need 25,000 square feet of space in the city, he said.
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