Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a statewide executive order Friday night that now allows any gathering of up to 10 people, so long as social distancing is observed.
The surprise order permits “any non-essential gathering of ten or fewer individuals, for any lawful purpose or reason, as long as social distancing protocols and cleaning and disinfection protocols required by the Department of Health are adhered to.”
The law appears to now legalize such small gatherings as indoor house parties or outdoor barbecues, picnics and even mini-protests, goodbye as no quite ten people are sharing within the activity — and that they all stay six feet apart while doing so.
Friday night’s order was an almost immediate response to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit earlier Friday challenging Cuomo’s prior ban.
That ban had barred all non-essential gatherings but made exceptions for houses of worship and Memorial Day gatherings, which might be allowed to collect in groups of ten or fewer.
“This shocking order, forced by a lawsuit, changes nothing about the risks related to group gatherings — especially those held indoors,” Mark D. Levine, who chairs the town Council’s health committee, tweeted in protest Friday night.
“We need the general public to still be smart and use judgement about the risks of this virus, no matter what the court has forced on us.”
The NYCLU’s Manhattan federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of Linda Bouferguen, a city resident who the suit says was twice arrested while trying to carry small, socially-distanced rallies outside hall .
The suit argued that the “gathering” limit shouldn’t apply unevenly to state residents — if houses of worship and Memorial Day celebrants could gather, so too should people that engage in “protest activity.”
Within hours, the state’s attorney General’s office reached bent the NYCLU to mention the state would suits their demands voluntarily, said the group’s executive , Donna Lieberman.
“The governor may be a lawyer,” Lieberman said.
“He knows about the primary Amendment and therefore the people around him know that the cardinal principal … is you can’t disadvantage one sort of speech over another,” she said.
“Here we’ve an executive order that gave special rights, within the midst of this public health crisis, to people that were saluting the military or engaging in religious activity,” she said.
“You can’t favor that activity but not allow other protest activity that involves but 10 people and complies with social distancing.”
The mayor’s office didn’t immediately answer an invitation for comment. A governor’s spokesman, Richard Azzopardi, said only, “Please be safe and wear a mask.”
