Statement from Broome County Executive Jason Garnar Regarding Phase 2 Reopening: “I just got off the call with the state where they told us they will be looking at additional data before allowing counties to move into phase 2 of reopening. This is absolutely frustrating. The people of Broome County did everything they were asked to do. Our local businesses cannot wait any longer.”
Statement from Senator Fred Akshar
"The Governor moving the goalposts on a whim at the very last minute while offering no direction or communication to local governments is absurd, ridiculous and unacceptable.
I fully support our local leaders’ decision to move forward with the planned Phase 2 tomorrow since the Governor seems unable or unwilling to keep his word on providing any direction or even simple communication with our Upstate communities."
Assemblyman Christopher Friend:
“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.”
