(Bloomberg) --
Governor Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers against triggering a second wave of the coronavirus, singling out bars and restaurants in Manhattan and the Hamptons as the worst offenders among 25,000 complaints filed to the state.
“We are not going to go back to that dark place,” Cuomo said on Sunday, saying he would reimpose shutdowns if businesses failed to comply with current restrictions and people didn't socially distance.
He also threatened to take away liquor licenses to bars and restaurants.
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Cuomo sounded the alarm on perhaps the best day in the battle against Covid-19 in New York. Once the center of the virus outbreak in the U.S., the state is now faring better than almost two dozen others seeing upticks in virus cases.
New deaths reported Sunday were 23, as compared to the daily peak of 799 reported on April 9. New hospitalizations, Cuomo said, fell to the lowest since March 20, the day he announced a statewide lockdown.
The infection rate has shown no signs of rising despite a reopening now started around the state, including in New York City last week, and even after street protests against the death of George Floyd that attracted tens of thousands of people.
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But Cuomo said repeatedly that violating the lockdown or failing to wear masks or socially distance could quickly reverse New York's gains. He again called out police officers who didn't wear masks, calling it “a very bad signal.”
To all violators, he said: “I am warning today, in a nice way, of the consequences of your actions.”
“We are not kidding around with this,” he said. “You are talking about jeopardizing people's lives.”
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