A slew of contradictory polices is complicating the holiday weekend for those looking to take a swim in the ocean.

Swimming will be prohibited at city beaches, but walking on the sand will be allowed. 

On Long Island, county beaches in Nassau and Suffolk will be open entirely, but not to city residents.

State beaches on Long Island, meanwhile, will be open to anyone for swimming and sunbathing.

“You could see an increased demand on those state beaches on Long Island because they are open to New York City residents,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo Friday. “Now, we have a 50 percent capacity for those beaches also, so they can do social distancing. But I understand the policies in New York City. I understand the Nassau policy and I understand the Suffolk policy. They can make sense for the locality but still create a regional issue.”

With several upstate regions already reopening their economies, Cuomo announced at his daily briefing that the mid-Hudson region and Long Island have hit almost all their benchmarks, and can likely reopen next week.

“In anticipation of that, we are going to allow construction staging,” Cuomo said. “Phase one, construction begins. Before you can begin construction, you have to have staged the construction. The materials have to be on site, etc., and safety precautions have to be on site. So, we are going to allow that construction staging now for the Long Island and the mid-Hudson.”

According to the governor, one of the issues his office is having with managing the crisis is that the guidance coming from medical professionals keep changing. So much is still unknown about the virus. 

“Most recently, CDC says infected surfaces are not a major source of transmission,” Cuomo said. “When we started, it was about infected surfaces and you could get it from infected surfaces, and that was a major problem. We have a very aggressive disinfecting campaign going on across the state.”

As the state starts to reopen, help for small businesses may be on the way. Cuomo announced a $100 million loan program for businesses with 20 or fewer employees. It’s using federal money. The assistance comes as the Cuomo administration estimates 100,000 small businesses in the state have shut their doors permanently.