Mayor Bill de Blasio Announces Plan to 'Fully Reopen' New York City on July 1

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on MSNBC that there is a plan to "fully reopen New York City on July 1st." The announcement includes businesses, offices and theaters operating at "full strength."

Mayor de Blasio cited the success of having over 6.3 million vaccinations in New York City to date as the basis for the plan: "What's amazing is every single day, we're beating back COVID more and more, hospitalizations down. You know, we're just seeing a better situation every day. We're ready to take that pathway to a full reopening."

While the plan will see many businesses open fully on July 1, the mayor singled out how the plan could affect theaters: "Broadway takes time because they have to mount a whole production," he said. "They've been aiming for September, most of the shows. Some of the smaller shows might be able to come in earlier. But one thing for sure, we've been vaccinating the Broadway community. We have a vaccination center right in the middle of Times Square. The whole Broadway community, whether you're on stage or behind stage, everyone's been coming there getting vaccinated. It's actually been run by folks who work on Broadway and are doing this for their fellow cultural workers to help them come back. So, I'd say you should expect Broadway full strength in September, but I'd love to see some of the smaller shows up in July and August."

At the time of publication, the current Broadway shutdown announced by the Broadway League is through May 30.