A soft reopening: New York business starts creaking to life

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Shuttered sectors of New York’s economy began inching back to life Friday with more construction, manufacturing and curbside retail pickups allowed in parts of the state that are hours away from pandemic-stricken New York City.

The smaller cities and rural regions of upstate New York have been spared the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is allowing many of those areas to gradually reopen first, industry by industry.

The first wave of businesses includes retail — though only for curbside or in-store pickup — along with construction and manufacturing.

In rural Schoharie, the Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe set out geraniums, petunias and gardening tools as it opened its nursery Friday. There are designated entry and exits for customers and 6-foot social distancing markers. No contact between staff and customers is allowed.

“We’re strongly encouraging contactless pay. We do have older individuals who do not feel as comfortable with that, that shop with us, so we’re accepting cash, but then we have a protocol for sanitizing our staff, as well as the cash itself,” co-owner Joshua Loden said.

In the largely rural Mohawk Valley, DANVANN Construction & Development has an excavation job Monday at a lake on the southern edge of the huge Adirondack Park.

“I’ve been lounging around the house a lot, and I’m ready to get busy,” said employee Justin Brown. “I’d rather be working.”

Job site rules will be different next week, with workers keeping their hands disinfected and their faces covered, said company owner Dan Roth, who has been paying his four idled employees.

They'll also “have to stay 6 feet away from each other as best as you possibly can," he said.

Cuomo's administration divided the state into...