Jim Cramer: New York is the 'epicenter of nothingness' during the crisis

CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" crew discuss how different regions in the United States are being affected by the coronavirus-driven economic downturn.

New York City is on track to begin its phased reopening, including opening retail stores with modifications and construction jobs, as the number of hospitalizations related to Covid-19 continue to decline, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday.

“I want to signal as clear as a bell, all roads are leading to the first half of June. The city indicators, the state indicators, we’re seeing very clear progress,” de Blasio said at a press conference.

For more than a week, the city has been around or below the annual average for people administered to the hospitals for the category of diseases related to Covid-19, which is “very powerful,” De Blasio said.

“We’ve brought this down far enough that it actually resembles a typical year for this broad category of diseases, so that’s a very important fact,” he said.

New York City has seen a 14-day decline in net hospitalizations and a 14-day decline in hospital deaths and it’s testing more than 30 people per 1,000 residents every month.

There were 60 people admitted to the city’s hospitals for suspected Covid-19 and 477 people currently in intensive-care based on a three-day average, de Blasio said.

Citywide, 9% of people who were tested for the virus were positive, which was a slight increase, but that figure has been below 15% for the last 10 days, he said.

Phase one of reopening allows regions to resume manufacturing, construction and agricultural operations as well as retailers to reopen with limitations, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo previously said.

The city has met four of the seven criteria required by the state to move into phase one reopening. New York City has slowly increased its share of total available hospital and ICU beds to meet the 30% capacity requirement.

De Blasio said he plans to provide more details about the city’s plan to reopen in June in the days ahead.

For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO:


Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide.

Connect with CNBC News Online

#CNBC
#CNBC TV

[edrock]

40 million out of work and the economy is coming back am I missing something.

[Renwa]

David Faber is quite the apologist for NY. I think Cramer has the right of it. NY is in real trouble not just now but the future is going to have some hard days ahead even after they get through the virus.

[DallasTaylor]

Anybody else remember people picking up Mexicans and other migrant workers at Home Depot like it was a day labor station?

[edwardallen]

New York is still suffering through Cuomo and BigBird

[Tejas]

The great power shift from NYC/California to Texas is only speeding up

[erniegirls]

Thanks Jim watching you and listening to you fills my heart with joy. So happy we’ve come out this recession and on a upward trend and everything is looking fantastic just fantastic just to be clear I’m being sarcastic