New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has lifted all remaining COVID restrictions and declared the pandemic over in New York after vaccinations reached 70 percent on Tuesday.
It mean concerts, sports events and night clubs can resume normal operations without enforcing capacity limits, social distancing rules or vaccine passes, nor do they have to make people wear masks if they don't want to.
Offices can resume operating at a 100 percent capacity with no social distancing rules.
The only rule that remains in place is the CDC's rule on forcing people to wear masks on public transport.
Everything else will now be down to the private business owner or employer.
Cuomo spoke at The One World Trade Center where he spoke emotionally about how New York went from having the worst COVID numbers to the best in the country.
As of Tuesday, the state test positivity rate is 0.4 percent.
'It means we can now return to life as know it.
'We have the highest vaccination rate in the country,' Cuomo said.
'The state mandates that have proven right and correct are relaxed as of today.
'Effective immediately', he said.
The vaccination rate in almost every part of New York is now 70 percent - that is the number of people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
It is the number President Biden has given as a goal for July 4 for the country.
New York State's test positivity rate is now just 0.4 percent.
'Remember June 15. It is the day that New York rose again,' Cuomo said, noting that it was also his late father Mario's birthday.
Despite the increasing vaccine roll-out across America, President Biden has not yet opened the border to people from the UK, Europe, Ireland, Iran, Brazil or South Africa.
Travel from India is also still banned but the country is going through the worst COVID explosion since the pandemic began.
In New York City, there were just 158 cases of COVID over the weekend - less than 0.01 percent of the city's population.
Rents are showing signs of economic recovery for the first time since last April - they were up by $14 in Manhattan, $50 in Queens and held steady in Brooklyn in April.
It is the first time they have not fallen since last year.
NY Gov Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that all remaining COVID-19 restrictions would be lifted - saying 'we can go back to life as normal'
Cuomo's guidance puts the onus on businesses to decide how to get people used to operating in pre-pandemic mode again.
Wall Street is already divided in how it'll go about it; Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said staff will have until Labor Day to return to the NYC office, or they'll face repercussions that are yet to be decided.
Anyone who relocated from New York City to a cheaper city and who wants to stay there to work remotely can expect a salary cut, he said.
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