Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who has been pleading with New York residents to drastically limit their Thanksgiving plans, announced that his out-of-state daughter will not be attending his Thanksgiving gathering in order to keep families “safe.”
“My daughter isn’t coming to Thanksgiving. She is out of state and it’s safer not to travel. It’s hard,” Cuomo announced. “But I can’t think of a better gesture of love than to say, I’m making the tough choice to keep you & our family safe”:
Cuomo has been urging New York residents to refrain from holding large Thanksgiving gatherings with individuals outside of their immediate households, essentially instructing residents to “stay away” from their loved ones.
“Your safe zone is not your safe zone. Your safe zone is dangerous this year. Please. Love is sometimes doing what’s hard. This year, if you love someone, it is smarter and better to stay away,” he said in an audio clip shared last week:
The Democrat governor imposed coronavirus restrictions across the state earlier this month, requiring bars, restaurants, and gyms to close by 10 p.m. and capping gatherings — even at private residences — to ten people.
“The rules are only as good as the enforcement. Local governments are in charge of enforcement. There are only two fundamental truths in this situation: it’s individual discipline and it’s government enforcement. Period. End of sentence,” he said at the time, although some law enforcement officers have since said that they will not enforce his edicts.
Cuomo warned on Sunday that various areas of New York City could soon enter the most restrictive “red zone” phase of restrictions, which prohibits “non-essential gatherings of any size.”
“Parts of Staten Island will go into an orange zone. Parts of Staten Island will go into red zone at the current rate,” he said on Sunday.
On Monday, the governor said the statewide positivity rate, excluding New York’s ‘micro-cluster” areas, stands at 2.73 percent.
“We continue to take strong action to respond to outbreaks and to stop the spread,” he said, urging people to “mask up”: