NYC mayor urged residents to report crowding at laundromats, grocery stores, and pharmacies so law enforcement can show up

• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday encouraged residents to call authorities if they saw people in crowds or in large gatherings in violation of a state order to social distance.
• De Blasio specifically targeted crowds in essential businesses - laundromats, grocery stores, and pharmacies - which have been allowed to remain open.
• New York has seen the worst outbreak of the novel coronavirus nationwide, though recent data suggest the state could be close to flattening the curve of new infections.
• "I want to make sure no one stops practicing social distancing and shelter in place. We must continue those strategies if we're going to protect lives," de Blasio said.
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday urged city residents to call law enforcement to report individuals who were gathering in large groups, violating a state order that prohibits gatherings of any size.

De Blasio warned residents during a Tuesday press conference that while data that has recently shown a drop in the number of new COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York state, social distancing measures throughout the city could not be scaled back.

"It is way too early to draw any definite conclusions," de Blasio said. "I want to really make sure none of us in public life we have turned a corner until we are absolutely certain. We are not there yet."

He added: "I want to make sure no one stops practicing social distancing and shelter in place. We must continue those strategies if we're going to protect lives."

While, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced that his PAUSE executive order, which requires non-essential businesses and schools across the state to remain closed, will extend to April 29 , de Blasio said "we've got to keep tightening up."

Specifically, de Blasio targeted businesses like laundromats, pharmacies, and grocery stores that were not ordered to close as they are considered essential businesses.

"Laundromats were kept open for a very specific reason," de Blasio said. "We want people to have clean clothes. The cleaning of clothes actually kills coronavirus - that's a good thing."

But, de Blasio said, "People should be really smart. Only go to the laundromat as little as you can. Don't go all the time. Go as infrequently as you can. Same with the grocery store."

The New York City mayor encouraged residents to contact authorities by dialing 311 - a non-emergency phone line for city residents if they saw crowding in such places. Law enforcement, he said, "is supposed to come rapidly," and would include NYPD, FDNY, the Sherriff's Office, and the Department of Buildings, all of which have been working to inform residents in violation of the PAUSE order that they need to break up their gatherings.

"What we're finding consistently is people do respond to the enforcement. If they're told to break up - if they're told to spread out - they do it with very very few exceptions," de Blasio told reporters.

"That ability to send enforcement over quickly is what will make all the difference here," he added, saying people who work at laundromats, grocery stores, and pharmacies need to ask residents to maintain social distancing, and if people refuse, they should call law enforcement.

New Yorkers, he said, should hold back from crowded laundromats and "form a line."

US health officials have also urged people nation to limit trips to the grocery store and pharmacies.

"We are going to warn people, and if they don't follow the warning, we are going to find people, and those fines can be pretty substantial," he said. De Blasio has previously warned of fines of as much as $500.

And get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.

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