New Report Provides Blueprint for Reopening New York City’s Economy

By focusing on mitigation and using a staged approach, New York can safely reopen

NEW YORK, NY — As New York City passes through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic with over a million unemployed statewide, the question remains: how can the economy reopen safely? In a new Manhattan Institute issue brief, adjunct fellow Arpit Gupta and Jonathan M. Ellen, MD, provide a strategic blueprint for New York City’s reopening. The brief recommends two key components of a safe exit strategy: 1. A series of measures to mitigate the risks of infection; and 2. A staged approach to reopening to protect vulnerable populations.

Learning from the successes and failures of our international neighbors, New York City should focus intensely on implementing effective measures to reduce the spread of the virus. These mitigation measures should include: 

1. Testing: Reasonably accurate mass testing is the only way to ensure we can identify many Covid-19 cases and quickly isolate those who test positive.
2. Masks: As many experts highlight the value of masks for reducing transmission of coronaviruses, homemade masks should be required in public spaces.
3. Temperature checks: Daily temperature checks should be implemented in workplaces, airports, train stations, and other public places to identify and isolate symptomatic cases quickly.
4. Social distancing: Employers should ensure that workers can remain at least six feet apart. The city should also open up substantial pedestrian space on city streets to allow people to maintain social distancing outside.
5. Contact tracing: The city should use both traditional contact tracing professionals and technology to identify and isolate those who have been exposed to the virus.
6. Centralized isolation sites: Rather than encouraging individuals who test positive to isolate at home, centralized isolation areas would allow people (voluntarily) to reduce the risk that they spread the disease to others, including family and roommates.

To further manage the risk of transmission, New York City should reopen in stages, rather than all at once. These stages, or risk tiers, should rely on specific thresholds based on quantitative measures that determine the need for increased or decreased lockdown measures. In the highest risk tier, those younger than 45 without comorbidities could return to work, while schools, restaurants, religious buildings, and the like remain closed to the public. As risks fall, more populations could reenter, and a broader range of businesses could reopen.

Click here to read the full report.