Western NY to reopen Tuesday; thousands of COVID-19 test kits heading to nursing homes

BUFFALO N.Y. (WSTM/WHAM) — In a signal that Western New York has met reopening requirements, Gov. Andrew Cuomo held his daily coronavirus briefing in Buffalo on Monday.

Western New York and the Capital Region have met six of seven of the requirements to reopen. Both of those regions were working to increase the number of tracers per 100,000 residents or based on the infection rate.

Monday at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, the governor said the Western New York region was close to meeting the final benchmark for reopening, training contact tracers. Training is in progress for these workers, and the governor said the region would be on track to reopen Tuesday.

This also means that elective surgeries will be allowed to resume at ECMC effective Tuesday.

The Finger Lakes Region, Central New York, Southern Tier and North Country were allowed to enter Phase One on Friday.

The governor also says he is encouraging major sports teams in the state to prepare for their reopening. That, he said, means preparing for games without live audiences. He added that the state stands ready to help teams with whatever they need to help get them back on their feet.

Hospitalizations, net change in hospitalizations and intubations continue to trend downward in the state. Albany says there were 106 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Albany says nearly 320,000 COVID-19 test kits will be sent to nursing homes across the state Monday. This comes after the state ordered nursing homes to begin testing employees twice a week for the virus.

Cuomo called the measure aggressive but necessary, saying the state would do what it needs to in order to save as many lives as possible. Older individuals have been especially susceptible to the virus.

The governor also announced Dr. Samir Bhatt of Imperial College London has been brought on to help New York as it continues to monitor data related to the COVID-19 pandemic. He joined the governor during Monday's briefing.

Watch the full briefing below.