Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the U.S. Open will be held in Queens without fans from August 31st to September 13th. The USTA will take extraordinary precautions to protect players and staff, including robust testing, additional cleaning, extra locker room space and dedicated housing and transportation.
Governor Cuomo also announced that hospitals and group homes will be allowed to accept visitors at their discretion. Any facility that chooses to allow visitors must follow state guidelines, including time-limited visits and requiring visitors to wear PPE and be subject to symptom and temperature checks. The hospital visitation program expands on a pilot program that was launched in May, which demonstrated that hospitals could provide safe visitation for patients and families. Hospitals statewide will now be able to provide visitation. Group homes certified by the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities will be allowed to accept visitors beginning Friday provided they adhere to state guidance and certify compliance to OPWDD prior to commencing visitation. The prohibition on nursing home visitors remains in place as the state Department of Health continues to review.
The Governor announced global public health experts have cleared the Capital Region to enter Phase Three on June 17th. Business guidance for phase three of the state’s reopening plan is available here.
“I am so proud what the people of this state have done to defeat this virus. The numbers are looking very good, and today we are excited to announce that the U.S. Open will be held in Queens without fans this August,” Governor Cuomo said. “We must remain vigilant and the USTA is taking all necessary precautions with players and staff, but this is an exciting day for the state.”
Mike Dowse, USTA Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, said, “We are incredibly excited that Governor Cuomo and New York State has approved our plan to host the 2020 US Open and 2020 Western & Southern Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. We recognize the tremendous responsibility of hosting one of the first global sporting events in these challenging times, and we will do so in the safest manner possible, mitigating all potential risks. We now can give fans around the world the chance to watch tennis’ top athletes compete for a US Open title, and we can showcase tennis as the ideal social distancing sport. Being able to hold these events in 2020 is a boost for the the City of New York and the entire tennis landscape.”
The Governor said the state has conduced more than three million COVID-19 tests to date.
Out of the 60,568 tests conducted in New York State yesterday, only 631, or 1.05 percent, were positive.
