Plans to hold a 10,000-person wedding in Brooklyn on Monday have been blocked by sheriffs in New York City, following a tip off from upstate New York.
Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, said the event was the exact example of what not to do during a global pandemic.
‘Look, you can get married. You just can’t have 10,000 people at your wedding,’ said Cuomo. ‘You get the same result at the end of the day.’
He announced on Saturday that COVID-19 ‘hot spots’ in the city appeared to be reducing in intensity, and said that cinemas across the state would reopen – although not in New York City itself.
Andrew Cuomo, pictured on Saturday giving an update about the state’s COVID response
Borough Park, in Brooklyn, saw protests (pictured) last week at the reintroduction of lockdowns
Cuomo on Saturday defended the localized shutdowns, including of Borough Park (pictured during last week’s protest)
Elizabeth Gavey, Cuomo’s special counsel, said that the New York City Sheriff served a state order on Friday night prohibiting the event, which was due to be held in the Williamsburg district of Brooklyn on Monday.
Sheriffs in New York had been tipped off by counterparts in Rockland County, upstate New York, ABC News reported.
Rockland County told DailyMail.com they had no further comment about the warning.
New York City Sheriffs did not respond to DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.
Cuomo said that the aggressive strategy of shutting down parts of the city where COVID-19 was spiking – ‘micro-clusters’ in Orange County, Rockland County, Queens and Brooklyn – was showing results.
The restrictions in Orthodox Jewish parts of Brooklyn caused violent protests last week, as residents objected to their synagogues being shut down during religious holidays.
But Cuomo said it was the right thing to do.
‘The targeting and the more restrictive targeting is working,’ he said.
Brooklyn had an infection rate of 6.6 per cent – almost seven times the statewide rate – when it re-entered a partial lockdown, and infection has since fallen last week to 4.9 per cent, he said.
Orange County, which neighbors Rockland County, was at 24 per cent infection, and is now down to six per cent, he said.
Areas of highest infection, which were subject to closures, are in the darkest colors
‘This micro-targeting idea has been, we’ve talked to all sorts of global experts about this and national experts, and people think it’s exactly right,’ he said.
‘Again, you need the sophistication to do it. But, the strategy is working, not just the micro-clusters, the whole statewide strategy is working.
‘We have one of the lowest statewide infection rates in the country. Period. You look at where the other states are going, you look at where New York State is, we are doing much, much better.
‘Frankly, we’re much more rigorous and disciplined than the other states, many other states, and our strategy is much more refined.’
He said that they were going to continue their strategy of highlighting ‘micro clusters’, rather than closing down neighborhoods or districts.
‘For fall we are going to deploy a micro-cluster strategy,’ he said.
‘We have been targeting all our actions either statewide or we reopened on a regional level.
‘We are now going to analyze it block-by-block. We have data so specific that we can’t show it because it could violate privacy conditions. We know exactly where the new cases are coming from.’
The governor announced that from October 23 cinemas in the state could reopen – but not in New York City.
Movie theaters would be restricted to 25 per cent capacity, with a maximum of 50 people in each theater.
Cinemas will be allowed to reopen at 25 per cent capacity, Cuomo said on Saturday