New York City to 'fully reopen' on July 1, de Blasio says

New York City is planning to "fully reopen" just before the Fourth of July, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) has announced.

The New York City mayor revealed the date on which officials plan to lift restrictions and allow for a full reopening of the city, which was the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak early on in the pandemic last year, during an interview with MSNBC.

"Our plan is to fully reopen New York City on July 1," de Blasio said. "We are ready for stores to open, for businesses to open, offices, theaters, full strength."

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De Blasio cited the fact that in New York City, "people have gotten vaccinated in extraordinary numbers," and "we're just seeing a better situation every day." The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in the city has dropped by 56 percent in the past month, according to Bloomberg. The mayor's announcement came after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) earlier this month said the state is planning to fully reopen its economy on June 15. "We can now begin planning for our lives post-pandemic," Newsom said at the time.

De Blasio acknowledged that "we do have work to do" before this full reopening can be achieved, but he added that "I'm quite confident we'll be ready for full strength by July 1" as vaccinations continue in the city.

"COVID's plummeting," de Blasio said. "We now have the confidence that we can pull all these pieces together and get life back really, in many ways, to where it was, where people can enjoy an amazing summer. This is going to be the summer of New York City. ... I think people are going to flock to New York City because they want to live again."

But de Blasio noted that "state government and federal government always have a say." Brendan Morrow