Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Sunday that the state received 25,000 complaints about social distancing violations at businesses, mostly at bars and restaurants, with Manhattan and the Hamptons leading the way.
Given the spread of the coronavirus in some states emerging from lockdown, Mr. Cuomo said the number of complaints, backed up with photos and videos of the violations, is of great concern. He is calling on local governments to enforce the law.
"Mayors, county executives, you have to do your job," he said. "I understand nobody wants to say to a bar, restaurant, you know, you're only supposed to be in an open-air area and you're not supposed to be violating social distancing. I understand that. . . . You know what's more unpopular? If that region closes because that local government did not do their job. That can happen."
Speaking specifically of the complaints coming from the South Fork and the city, he said, "These are not hard-to-spot violations. People send video of these violations, you can look it up on social media. . . . They are rampant, and there's not enough enforcement. I am not going to allow situations to exist that we know have a high likelihood of causing an increase in the spread of the virus."
Asked about the governor's statements at his daily briefing later in the day, County Executive Steve Bellone said he had not seen Mr. Cuomo's remarks and was not aware of any violations on the South Fork.
"We are open, but we have been doing compliance from the very beginning," Mr. Bellone said. "I've coordinated with all local officials from the beginning and all police chiefs on the East End."
Mr. Bellone also pointed to the county's continued decline in hospitalizations and the new daily cases, which were 44 on Sunday, well below the 100-new-cases ceiling he has cited as an indication that the county might be on the verge of another outbreak.
Stuart Cameron, the Suffolk County police chief, said business staff and owners are really happy to reopen and want to comply. "They want to follow the rules, because they don't want the rollback either." He said he would contact the East End police chiefs to see if there was anything the county could do to assist them in enforcing compliance with the social distancing mandates.
If the violations continue, the state might step in. "This is a very serious situation, and I want to make sure everybody knows the consequences here," Mr. Cuomo said. A bar or restaurant that is violating these rules can lose their liquor license. "State Liquor Authority inspectors are out. We have a task force of state investigators who are out. . . . We are not kidding around with this. You're talking about jeopardizing people's lives."
He said individuals are also violating the law if they are not wearing masks in situations where they are necessary, such as where maintaining a distance of six feet apart cannot be accomplished. "We got here because people did the right thing, and if we stop doing the right thing we'll see a very different trajectory."