NY governor extends stay-at-home order while 3,500 line up at food bank

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo used an executive order to extend New York State’s stay-at-home-order into mid-June. The extension was made late on Thursday night and is only for areas of the state that have not reached the reopening guidelines, according to WKBW.

In Western New York, five counties have not met the reopening criteria including Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua, Allegany and Cattaraugus.

The criteria has been met by Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming Counties which are involved in phase one of the reopening today.

The executive order from Cuomo says, "All enforcement mechanisms by state or local governments shall continue to be in full force and effect until June 13, 2020 unless later extended or amended by a future Executive Order."

"Any additional regions which meet the criteria after such date will be deemed to be incorporated into this Executive Order without further revision and will be permitted to re-open phase one industries, subject to the same terms and conditions."

Friday morning in Queens, a food pantry saw a large crowd that showed up well before it opened, reports CBS.

The line formed in the rain on Whitney Avenue outside of St. Bartholomew’s Catholic Church and Police estimate that about 3,500 people were waiting at the pantry.

According to organizers, there will be 4,800 bags of food handed out starting at 10 a.m.

A 200 percent growth in demand has been reported by Catholic Charities since the end of March.

New York State now has approximately 343,000 cases of coronavirus and 27,641 deaths.