All nonessential workers are ordered in New York state to stay at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement during his daily press conference on Friday. The executive order will go into effect on Sunday evening.



"What you do can affect my health," he said, calling it "New York state on pause".



Essential businesses will only remain in operation and can keep their entire workforce employed in the office instead of having them work from home. These businesses include food delivery, healthcare workers, media, and transit workers.



All nonessential businesses that do not follow with the order will face a fine and mandatory closure, Mr Cuomo said.

“This is the most drastic action we can take,” the governor added.

When asked, Mr Cuomo said this was not a shelter-in-place order. The governor has been against that terminology, saying “words matter”, as it is typically used for situations like a school shooting, Instead it is a mandate making sure nonessential workers stay home.

Initially it was ordered for 50 per cent of the nonessential workforce to stay home on Wednesday, and then that order changed to 75 per cent of the workforce on Thursday. Now the entirety of the nonessential workforce must stay home.

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut also announced on Friday that all salons and barber shops must close during the pandemic.

Increasing the mandates across New York state comes as the number of coronavirus cases continue to increase, and New York now has the most recorded cases in the country.

Positive cases rose in New York to 7,102 confirmed, but Mr Cuomo said part of this rapid increase comes from the state prioritising testing.

“In total we have tested 32,000 people. We did 10,000 tests last night. I had said last week we hope to get to 6,000 tests. We have gotten to 10,000 tests. Which again, I’m very proud of the operation. But again, that’s why you see the number going up,” Mr Cuomo said.

New York state is now on par with South Korea and China for testing per capita.

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These numbers don’t necessarily mean New York state has more cases than other areas like California or Washington state, depending on how testing is going in those locations.

As for backlash, Mr Cuomo made it very clear constituents upset by the mandates or the closing of their businesses should “blame me”.