Manhattan's Financial District on Friday. The city is moving into phase two of the state's reopening scheme. Photo: Ryland West/ALM

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday confirmed that New York City law firms would be able to return to in-office work starting June 22 as coronavirus business restrictions are loosened for the area.

He said experts have reviewed COVID-19 data and have given the city the greenlight to move into phase two of the state's reopening scheme June 22. That phase allows companies to bring back office-based jobs, real estate services and in-store shopping in the city.

Outdoor dining is also permitted in phase two, if all staff wear face masks, the tables are six feet apart, and customers wear face masks when they're not seated. 

New York City is the last part of the state to enter phase two of the reopening plan, but the move is still a dramatic turnaround for a city once at the epicenter of the nation's COVID-19 crisis. 

The percentage of positive COVID-19 tests in New York City over a rolling average remains low overall, officials reported days ago. Those numbers come even though construction, agriculture and manufacturing operations were allowed to open up and there were mass gatherings to protest police brutality and the killing of Black Americans by law enforcement.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio estimated as many as 300,000 employees could come into the city for their jobs with phase two, which he described as the biggest of the four reopening phases. 

Earlier on in the pandemic, New York issued sweeping COVID-19 lockdown measures that banned all nonessential gatherings and ordered nonessential employees to stay away from their workplaces. Officials have gradually relaxed those restrictions on a regional basis as the intensity of the outbreak has waned in New York.

Despite the low COVID-19 figures, Cuomo has cautioned in recent days that businesses must follow the guidelines aimed at preventing infections. 

"We have done this in every region across the state. It has worked overall," he said Thursday. "I can tell you from experience, it works better or worse depending on the compliance and the enforcement and how people follow the rules."

For law firms, that means mandatory guidelines on physical distancing, protective equipment, disinfection and health screenings. Specifically, mandatory guidelines released by the state require shared workstations to be disinfected between users. It also orders workers to wear face masks when they come within six feet of another person.

There should be health screenings for workers too, including asking about COVID-19 symptoms and contact with a confirmed or suspected coronavirus case in the last two weeks, according to the guidelines.

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