Friend: Governor Has to Stop Making Upstate Regions Jump through New Hoops to Reopen

Statement from Assemblyman Christopher S. Friend (R,C,I-Big Flats) on new revelations from governor’s approval panel for Phase 2

“The governor just keeps moving the goal post on our state in opening back up. The recent revelation that he intends to require the data of each region to be reviewed by a panel of international experts before it can be approved for Phase 2 is stunning news to many of us. I have been in constant contact with those on our regional team and they have expressed that this information has not been shared with them. In fact, they were told that the Southern Tier would be ready to go Friday and that our numbers remained on synch.

“Our communities, local officials, health professionals and businesses have been working very hard to get the Southern Tier ready to open and our cases have been negligible. This new layer of requirements is another example of the governor gleefully overstepping and shows his complete lack of trust in our local efforts. His distrust of our communities is disappointing.”

The relevant press can be found here:

https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/05/reopening-ny-international-experts-will-review-data-before-phase-2-begins-cuomo-says.html