Cuomo relaxes COVID restrictions in Queens cluster zones

A MASKED-UP COUPLE CROSSES THE STREET AT 71ST AVENUE AND AUSTIN STREET IN FOREST HILLS TUESDAY. EAGLE PHOTO BY RACHEL VICK

By David Brand 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday relaxed COVID-related restrictions in Central Queens and Far Rockaway, allowing schools and nonessential businesses to start to reopen. 

Cuomo said COVID test positivity rates had dropped below 3 percent for 10 consecutive days inside both state-designated “cluster zones” in Far Rockaway and Central Queens. 

In the Central Queens zone, concentrated in Forest Hills and Kew Gardens, the rate is now about 2.5 percent, down from about 4.7 percent Oct. 6, Cuomo said. In Far Rockaway, the rate dropped from 3.7 percent to 1.8 percent. 

The state had implemented tiered restrictions throughout much of Central Queens and the Eastern portion of the Rockaway Peninsula based on proximity to the cluster zone, which were depicted as red splotches on maps of the city. Inside the red cluster zone, schools and non-essential businesses were forced to close for two weeks, while gatherings inside houses of worship were capped at 10 people.

The red cluster zone, as well as the adjacent orange “warning zone,” have both been downgraded to a yellow “precautionary zone,” Cuomo said. 

“What this shows is it is working. It is working,” Cuomo said of the restrictions. “Again, because one and one equals two. If you talk to the community about increasing compliance, if you increase enforcement — the spread will come down.”

The vast yellow zone now covers virtually all of Central Queens, reaching Ridgewood to the west, Jackson Heights to the north, Flushing to the east and Jamaica to the south. 

Cuomo also said positive case rates have increased in Ozone Park, prompting the state to add the neighborhood to the yellow zone.

In the yellow zones, gatherings are capped at 25 people, restaurants are limited to four people per table and schools must administer weekly tests. Houses of worship are limited to 50 percent capacity.

In addition to Central Queens and Far Rockaway, the state designated a patch of South Brooklyn as a cluster zone. Cuomo had hinted Monday that he would relax restrictions in some zones where COVID rates had decreased. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday praised the declining rate of positive COVID-19 tests in the Central Queens red zone.

“Those numbers have gotten substantially better. So, that's an area that we're pleased about” de Blasio said. “That's a good example to everyone else in the red and orange zones that we can turn this around and turn this around quickly with a strong united effort.”