JAMESTOWN — Republican state legislators joined U.S. Rep. Tom Reed Tuesday in urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to “listen to the people” and reopen Southern Tier counties — whether or not Erie and Niagara counties meet reopening requirements.

Speaking to a handful of reporters at the Crown Street Roasting Company in Jamestown, Reed said, “We need to reopen in the Western District.” It is important, he said, “to get people back to work.”

Reed, of Corning, said the five-county Western New York Economic Development Region meets five of the seven metrics set down by the governor for reopening, but falls short in COVID- 19 hospitalizations and deaths — largely due to Erie County nursing homes.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he was hopeful the region would meet the governor’s metric and reopen by sometime next week.

Reed said the counties were able to meet testing capabilities through inter-regional cooperation, including state assistance in getting more test kits and additional tests through Quest Diagnostics he helped arrange.

“My hope is common sense will prevail,” Reed told reporters, all of whom were masked and standing a few feet away. He said he thought there was “a good possibility” the region would be up and running soon.

Reed said if a reopening of the region doesn’t come soon, and Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties continue to have low numbers, there is “a logical reason for them to be considered differently. They could open just themselves.”

The congressman said, “The virus is real. It is here. We can no longer live in a state of fear. It’s time to get back to work.”

If the lockdown continues, he said, “people are not going to be able to recover.”

Reed said he didn’t mean “to discount the lives that have been lost,” but if the economy doesn’t start to reopen, the repercussions could be “much greater than the Great Depression.”

Reed appeared at a similar press conference pressing to reopen the economy earlier Tuesday at a Lockport factory with Republican state senators and an assemblyman.

State Sen. George Borrello, of Lakewood, who also removed his mask before talking to reporters, said the owners of the coffee shop the press conference was held in were facing the same challenge as many other business owners.

Borrello said when he and Assemblyman Andy Goodell, of Jamestown, put together a phased reopening plan, Cuomo used much of it in his reopening plan after the May 15 NY Pause date.

Their plan did not follow economic development boundary lines and did not lump Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in with Erie and Niagara counties, Borrello said.

“We are never going to eliminate risk,” Borrello said, adding the goal is to try to minimize it.

“I’m concerned with the hysteria,” he said. Now is the time to “pivot from essential workers to safe to operate. Common sense is the quickest way to get back to work.”

Borello added, “We can’t continue on the path we are on. We are writing checks on an empty bank account. The best answer is to get back to work.”

Goodell, the Jamestown assemblyman, said, “Chautauqua County needs to reopen in a safe manner now.”

He pointed out that people can go to Walmart, but can’t buy the same items in locally-owned retail stores.

“This shutdown is killing us,” he said, adding that the right to assemble and to attend church have been usurped by Cuomo.

There have been four COVID-19 deaths in Chautauqua County, he said, while there have been two in Cattaraugus County.

Assemblyman Joseph Giglio, of Gowanda, pointed out that Cattaraugus, Allegany and Chautauqua counties have had fewer than 140 COVID-19 cases combined.

“They are getting close” to meeting the requirements to reopen, Giglio said of the region. “I have a lot of hope. I do not want to see a spike. People are not going to run out and act like they did. The governor does not have to tell us what we have to do.”

Giglio added, “It’s time. Even with the Erie County numbers, it’s close. We have to give people hope.”

Reed expressed concern that state officials would “move the goalposts” and again tinker with the reopening metrics.

Borrello said he was concerned about the loss of liberties in the state’s response to the pandemic and agreed with protesters demanding the region be reopened. “The question is are you free? I think the answer right now is no.”

Borrello added that the longer the shutdown lasts, “there is going to be a lasting economic impact.”