Governor Andrew Cuomo is threatening to withhold state funding from schools in COVID-19 hotspot areas that are remaining open despite the governor’s closure orders. Cuomo says he will also hold back state funds from local governments who fail to adequately police the areas identified by health officials as Covid clusters.
The hotspots are in portions of New York City, as well as Orange and Rockland Counties in the Hudson Valley, and include some Orthodox Jewish communities, which Cuomo called “politically powerful.” Despite school shut down orders, some yeshivas have remained open, and others have failed to obey rules to wear masks and strictly limit large gatherings. Cuomo says the schools won’t get state funding, and local governments will see their state funds withheld, if they don’t enforce the containment regulations. The governor says he has no other choice.
“Because nothing else I have done has motivated them,” Cuomo said. “Maybe money works.”
The governor, who has fought with New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio over whether the city is doing enough to enforce the rules, says if he had a chance to redo his virus response plans, he would hire a state run staff of enforcement agents to make sure New Yorkers follow all of the regulations.