Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York State will be withholding funds from schools in Covid-19 “red zones” if safety guidelines set by the department of health are not being followed. 

Cuomo sent a letter to local governments and schools violating the Covid-19 regulations. The letter was sent to New York City, Rockland County, Orange County, the Town of Ramapo and the Village of Spring Valley.

In the letter, Cuomo warned that if the governments failed to enforce limits on gatherings and general Covid-19 safety regulations, the state will withhold funds from them. A similar letter was sent to public and private schools within these areas mandating that they close and warned them that if they did not comply with the order, funds will also be withheld. 

The warnings come after a drastic increase in cases in these red zones, which make up 2.8% of the state’s population, yet contain 12.2% of all positive results during the week of October 13th and 15.6% of positive cases reported on October 13th. Red zone areas include parts of Brooklyn, Orange County, and Rockland County, places where many religious gatherings and schools (most commonly Yeshivas) were found to be violating these safety guidelines.