State lifts some COVID restrictions

NEW YORK STATE--Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday, Jan. 27, following a decline in new cases and hospitalization rates over the past weeks, all orange zone restrictions, and some yellow zone restrictions, have been lifted statewide. While Schuyler County managed to stay out of state-designated zones, neighboring Chemung County had been a designated orange zone.
For Adam Bunce, owner of the Turtle Leaf Cafe in Elmira, getting out of the orange designation was huge.
"It was much needed just to give us the chance to survive and pull through the rest of this pandemic," Bunce said. "It is very important to my business."
While Bunce said customers have been very respectful of the new rules, he mentioned it had been very frustrating to operate a business in an orange zone.
While all orange zones have been removed, remaining yellow zones will continue to exist in the New York City area and Newburgh where communities continue to qualify under the state's metrics.