The idea of slowly opening New York state by regions is moving ahead.

On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the state will take a regional approach to reopening and will make decisions on which counties and regions to open and when to open them based on the facts and data specific to that area.

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will coordinate Western New York’s public health and reopening strategy, and former Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will volunteer as a special advisor to coordinate the Finger Lakes’ public health and reopening strategy.

State Sen. George Borrello, who, along with other Republican members of the State Legislature, proposed a regionally-based reopening strategy last week.

“In today’s daily briefing, I was glad to hear Governor Cuomo embrace the regionally-based reopening strategy for New York’s economy that was outlined in the ‘Restarting New York’ plan that I unveiled last week with my Assembly colleague Andy Goodell,” Borrello stated.

“The response to our plan has been overwhelmingly supportive. State and local officials, business owners and everyday New Yorkers have reached out to urge us to continue our advocacy, citing the huge disparities in infection rates and risk between upstate and downstate and the urgent need to restart our economy wherever we can. While no one expects to go back to the same practices that existed prior to this pandemic, we can carefully and safely begin to restart our economy upstate, which benefits all New Yorkers.”

Borrello noted taht “Every day that passes with near-total closure of our economy is another day where thousands of New Yorkers lose their jobs, small businesses move closer to bankruptcy and the budgets of our state and local governments move deeper into the red. Now is the time to set the wheels in motion, so that we can smartly and safely reopen New York for business.”

He said he looks forward to sharing ideas with Hochul and Duffy. “With so much at stake, input from a range of stakeholders will be critical in determining the best path forward for our economy and our residents,” he said.