Cuomo: No plans for shelter-in-place in NYC

<p>New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Thursday reiterated that there are no plans for New York City to be shut down or to have a mandatory shelter-in-place measure imposed to combat the spread of coronavirus.</p><p>"Words matter at this point," he said at a press conference from Albany. "Shelter-in-place is a scary term for people, especially when they don't know what it means. And especially when you're not doing what it means. If you're not doing that. Why do you call it that?"</p><p>A shelter-in-place rule would compel New Yorkers to stay at home except for essential work or activities. Cuomo is ordering businesses to have no more than 25 percent of their employees working on site. However, he stressed that it's okay for people to go to the doctor or to parks and other places, as long as people adhere to social distancing rules.</p><p>Earlier this week, Mayor de Blasio appeared ready to impose a citywide shelter-in-place order, that would confine 8.5 million New Yorkers to their homes. He pointed to areas like the San Francisco Bay area, where seven million people are being forced to comply for three weeks. Cuomo stopped deBlasio, saying that the NYC mayor lacked the authority to implement such as policy.</p><p>Shelter-in-place is confusing term for people, said Cuomo.</p><p>"There's not an active shooter, shelter-in-place. It's not a nuclear holocaust, shelter-in-place. Wait for the all-clear sign. It's not gonna be any old clear sign."</p>