Gov. Cuomo orders employers to provide face masks to employees

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that he is signing an executive order for essential employers to provide cloth or surgical face masks for employees interacting with the public.

The governor made the announcement during his daily coronavirus briefing from Albany.

Cuomo also announced another executive order to expand who can conduct antibody tests to help ensure as many New Yorkers as possible have access as the state works to bring testing to scale.

Hospitalizations and ICU admissions continue to drop, Cuomo says, suggesting that the state is effectively flattening its curve. However, deaths appear to have stabilized at a tragic rate, with 758 new deaths reported. The total lives lost in New York stands at 9,385.

The governor says that he wants to re-open the state "ASAP", however, he says that the state needs to be smart in its timing.

Cuomo continues to emphasize that New Yorkers must continue to stay the course and follow social distancing guidelines. In order to re-open the state, Cuomo says that testing needs to be brought to scale and there needs to be a new, "fairer" federal stimulus bill.