New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday outlined a 12-step plan to reopen parts of the state while trying to keep the coronavirus pandemic from flaring up again.

"It's a very fact-based, data-driven reopening plan for regions that would keep them safe and allow the economy to reopen in phases," Cuomo said at a press conference in Syracuse.

The plan centers around keeping the hospital system from becoming overwhelmed with coronavirus cases. It requires local and state officials to set up massive testing and tracing systems, isolation facilities for infected patients and monitoring systems for everything — from hospital gear to spikes in infections to tracking whether businesses are following the guidelines. If there is an outlier in any of those measures, Cuomo said that could trigger a "circuit breaker" that would require local regions to tighten coronavirus restrictions on local businesses.

"Remember, we have been to hell and back over the last 60 days," he said. "We have to remain vigilant. This is not over."

The state is following guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that require local and state officials to show a continual decline in Covid-19 hospitalizations over a two-week period before they can think about reopening nonessential businesses, he said. If hospitalizations continue to fall, Cuomo said some parts of the state will have met the CDC guidelines by May 15, but "not New York City, not downstate, unless a miracle happens."

Cuomo said manufacturing and construction jobs will be the first businesses to return to work because they "can adopt to the new normal in terms of their employees, in terms of the places of business and in terms of the processes that they put in place."

Businesses that do reopen will need to guarantee that their employees and customers maintain adequate social distancing guidelines, frequently test employees, maintain strict cleaning standards and follow continuous tracing and reporting protocols, among other precautions.

"That's all part of the new normal, and businesses are going to have to do that if they want to reopen," he said.