Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente welcomes Phase 3, discusses challenges with COVID, Nexus Center, Boilermaker By Luke Perry
Six regions in upstate New York, including the Mohawk Valley, are now in Phase 3 of COVID reopening. The Capital Region will enter Phase 3 tomorrow.
Phase 3 includes restaurants, food services, and personal care. People can now eat in indoor at restaurants at fifty percent capacity, as well as outdoors. Other personal care businesses, such as nail salons and tattoo parlors, are now open too.
Picente told Talk of the Town (WUTQ in Utica) that he was “very happy for the community, and the region as a whole, and certainly the businesses that have been waiting for this day for what seems like an eternity.”
Griffin’s Pub (WKTV)
“I wouldn’t say we’re out of it,” Picente said, because “we’re still seeing numbers of cases, now we’re still testing a great deal.” Nursing home deaths are still occurring, one or two a day. Picente said this is “tragic” and “not normal,” though “we’re not seeing a spike” resulting from increased social activity, like over Memorial Day weekend.
The percent of confirmed cases in the Mohawk Valley remains “very low” compared to other parts of the state, which Picente believes is a good sign. There is still uncertainty surrounding the prevalence and implications of asymptomatic cases. “I don’ think anyone has a good grasp on that right now,” Picente said.
Photo from New York State
The completion and opening of the Nexus Center in downtown Utica was rescheduled for next summer due to COVID-related delays. Picente said this is “disappointing and we want to see it completed.” If opened this summer,; however, Picente thinks the site would be unable to normally attract sporting events due to the pandemic.
“Our goal is getting it up and running,” Picente said, as Oneida County works with the state, who is providing funding. “I think it needs to get completed. The last thing you want is a project of that magnitude, or anything close that size, just sitting there, with steel exposed.”
Today the Utica Boilermaker road race was cancelled. The event, held annually since 1978, will take place virtually in September. Picente said it was “hard to image a summer without thousands of people flooding our region from across the globe to participate and celebrate.”
Picente said the loss is “a blow to the spirit of our community” and “takes an immense toil on the local economy.” Picente looks forward to the “live event returning bigger and better than ever.”
Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Professor of Government at Utica College
