Gov. Andrew Cuomo says there's no plan to remove Westchester County from the "Mid-Hudson" reopening region.

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Last Tuesday, the top officials from Orange, Ulster, Dutchess Putnam, Sullivan, Greene and Columbia counties announced they are working together to collectively reopen the Hudson Valley. They held their first meeting on Friday.

The plan to reopen New York state regionally and in phases splits the state up into 10 regions. Columbia and Green counties are included in the "Capital Region" while Westchester and Rockland counties are placed in the "Mid-Hudson" region.

Many residents from Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Putnam counties were disappointed to be lumped in with Westchester County, which has been hit much harder by COVID-19.

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Speaking on Friday during his COVID-19 briefing from Marist Collage, the governor stated he doesn't expect to see any deviations from the phased reopening plan. As of this writing, there is no plan to separate Westchester or Rockland counties from the "Mid-Hudson" region.

"The region is the region. We live in this region, we are impacted by Westchester and Rockland. However there will be variations within the regions and those seven benchmarks," Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said on Monday on WPDH.

Cuomo is expected to announce Monday that a few regions in New York reached the benchmarks to start reopening on May 15. However, as of Monday, the Hudson Valley isn't qualified to start reopening on Friday. The governor noted, as of Sunday, Dutchess County standing on its own doesn't meet the metrics to reopen.

"That is true," Molinaro said. "If you look at our numbers, even with Westchester and Rockland, we are trending towards meeting those benchmarks."

Molinaro remains optimistic the Hudson Valley can start the reopening process during the week of May 18.

Phase 1 includes construction, manufacturing, and select retail with curbside pick-up. Phase 2 retail, real estate, and finance. Phase 3 will allow restaurants and hotels to reopen. Phase 4 includes entertainment venues and schools.

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