Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is threatening to withhold funds to counties and cities that won’t enforce social distancing regulations.
Starting Wednesday, Cuomo will send towns that violate social distancing orders warning letters that funds will be withheld if the localities do not comply, according to CBS 2.
“I don’t like to do that,” Cuomo said Wednesday morning. “I don’t know how else to get them to actually do the enforcement they need to do.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Jimmy Vielkind tweeted Cuomo is sending a letter to New York City, Orange County, and Rockland County – which includes the towns of Spring Valley and Ramapo.
NEWS: @NYGovCuomo is sending a letter saying he will withhold funding from New York City, Orange County, Rockalnd County, the Town of Ramapo and the Village of Spring Valley if they don’t enforce social distancing regulations.
“Hopefully that will motivate them,” Cuomo says.
— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) October 14, 2020
The announcement comes as “hot zones” across the state continue to pop up. In Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a crowd was spotted leaving what allegedly was a large indoor gathering Tuesday night not wearing masks, according to ABC 7. (RELATED: ‘I Take Responsibility For Every Death’: Andrew Cuomo Tells ‘Morning Joe’ – After Blaming Trump, GOP)
Eyewitness News reported hundreds of young children who attend Bais Yaacov School –which is in a hot zone– boarded a bus Tuesday despite the fact that the school should have been closed starting last week. Some children were reportedly not wearing masks.
Meanwhile, in Rockland County, cases dipped over the weekend after Cuomo dispatched the New York State Police Enforcement Task Force to COVID-19 hotspots, including Rockland’s “red zone,” according to lohud. The enforcement initiative restricts activities in two Rockland hot zones, Ramapo and Spring Valley, which have both seen high numbers of active COVID-19 cases, per the same report.
Cuomo spokeswoman Caitlin Girouard said last week that the state will step in if towns don’t enforce social distancing laws.
“As the governor has made clear if the local governments will not enforce the law, then the state will step in as we have been doing with bars and restaurants,” Girouard said.
The Daily Caller reached out to the governor’s office for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.