ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has extended New York's 'on pause' order until 11:59 p.m. on May 28 for regions of the state that don't meet reopening requirements, according to an executive order.
That includes the Western New York region, which has only met five of the seven requirements to begin phase one of reopening.
The Secretary to the Governor, Melissa DeRosa, tells 2 On Your Side's Heather Ly that as soon as a region meets the benchmark, they can enter phase one of reopening.
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul made the announcement Thursday evening that the Western New York region was not ready to reopen.
"On this day, I have to report to all of you that as of now Western New York is not prepared to enter Phase 1 of reopening," she said.
The five counties that make up the Western New York region — Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany — experienced another setback on Thursday. The WNY region no longer met the criteria for new hospitalizations.
We also don't have a 14-day decline in net hospitalizations or a three-day average of less than 15 new hospitalizations per day. Right now our average is 28.
The other metric Western New York is not meeting is a 14-day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five hospital deaths on average over three days, and right now we average nine deaths a day.
Governor Cuomo has also extended the state disaster emergency declaration until June 13.
To read the full text of the executive order, click here.