Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces New York Professional Sports Leagues Will Be Able to Begin Training Camps

· Richard Parsons - Chair, Rockefeller Foundation

· Darren Walker - President, Ford Foundation

· Dennis Rivera - Former Chair, SEIU healthcare

· Plinio Ayala - President/CEO, Per Scholas

· Charles Phillips - Chair/Former CEO, Infor

· Sid Mukherjee - Physician/Author, Assistant Professor at Columbia

· Jane Rosenthal - Co-founder/CEO/Executive Chair, Tribeca Film Festival

· Dr. Toyin Ajayi - Chief Health Officer & Co-founder, Cityblock Health

· Elizabeth Alexander - President, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

· Martha Pollack - President, Cornell University

· Steven Koonin - Director, NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress

· Satish K. Tripathi - President, SUNY Buffalo

· Hamdi Ulukaya - Founder/Chairman/CEO, Chobani

· Maurie McInnis - Incoming President, SUNY Stony Brook

· Ginni Rometty - Executive Chair, IBM

The Governor also announced the Mid-Hudson Region is still on track to enter phase one of reopening on Tuesday, May 26th, and Long Island is still on track to reopen on Wednesday May 27th if deaths continue to decline. Both regions' contact tracing operations are expected to be online by those dates.

The Governor also announced the MTA will be taking steps to protect Long Island Rail Road customers as Long Island moves towards phase one of reopening. The MTA is cleaning and disinfecting trains and buses daily, and the LIRR is ready to add more cars to trains to help with social distancing. The Governor also reminded New Yorkers that wearing a mask or face covering is mandatory when riding on public transportation systems.

The Governor also announced that more than 10,000 households on Long Island have received Nourish New York products. Additionally, six new Nourish New York distributions are scheduled for Long Island this week. First announced by the Governor on April 27th, the Nourish New York Initiative provides relief by purchasing food and products from Upstate farms and directs them to the populations who need them most through New York's network of food banks. The state is also asking any philanthropies or foundations that would like to help the state's food banks to contact [email protected].

The Governor also announced that campgrounds and RV Parks will be allowed to open statewide tomorrow, May 25th. Veterinarian practices will also be allowed to open in all regions beginning Tuesday, May 26th.

"As we move forward with reopening, we have to keep one eye on the future and start talking about building back better, not just building to what we had before," Governor Cuomo said. "There are new rules now, and we must learn from what we've been through so that we can be prepared when another inevitable public health emergency happens. New York State has led the way in so many difficult times in history - people look to New York for guidance and example and now we are writing history for a whole modern day governmental and societal response."

Finally, the Governor confirmed 1,589 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 361,515 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 361,515 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows: