NEW YORK (TURKISH JOURNAL) – By Janet Ekstract – Governor Andrew Cuomo in his weekly daily briefing on Sunday, explained that he understands how impatient people are to get back to work and to see New York City reopened. But Cuomo emphasized: “We want to reopen as soon as possible. The caveat is we need to be smart in the way we open.” Cuomo said: “A coordinated approach, a regional approach and a safe approach,” is what is needed as plans get under way to meet with the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut to create a plan about how and when the tri-state area might be able to reopen. The governor added: “We need a public health strategy that is safe, that is consistent with an economic strategy.” Cuomo said any plan can only be effective if busineses, schools and the workforce are wholly coordinated.
The governor said coordination means that school reopenings must dovetail with businesses reopening since parents can’t return to work if their children are not at school. In reference to the current situation on schools being closed, Cuomo said: “We are where we were” and that schools remain closed due to safety concerns. He reiterated that there has to be a “coordinated approach on reactivation and it must be done regionally. Cuomo added: “We closed everything down in a coordinated fashion and we did it regionally. That partnership is very important for our individual states and our collective states.” He emphasized that hopefully New York “can get on the same page with New Jersey and Connecticut.” Cuomo commented that New York is trying a “wholly coordinated approach” to work with all counties and New York City. The governor said he has spoken to the “best experts” around the world about this. He said the smartest ones say “I don’t know” and reiterated that “whatever plan we come up with will be driven by data and science.”
As the governor has reiterated in every daily briefing, testing is the priority on two fronts: the first to test to see who tests positive – the second to get a correct antibody test that will demonstrate whether or not a person has the secondary antibody reaction that means they are no longer contagious and should be immune to the virus. A major factor complicating testing is the fact that as CNN has reported, many of the testing kits coming from China are “faulty” as one emergency physician said and many medical professionals in the U.S. have echoed. The tests have been labeled ‘counterfeit’ and could be dangerous as Dr. Debra Birx with the White House Coronavirus Task Force stated several days ago that if a testing kit is faulty then a person who is positive for coronavirus can test negative and a person who is actually negative for the virus can test positive. There needs to be faster testing Cuomo emphasized and in order to get this done, federal assistance is required.
The governor said that everyone should desire to see the New York economy “up and running.” Cuomo said he made a joint statement with Governor Hogan of Maryland related to the first federal stimulus bill which he made clear left New York in the lurch. As he explained: “The federal CARES Act” ignored the state government” and “contained zero funding to offset drastic state revenue.” Cuomo said: “Some states are receiving $300,000 per coronavirus case. New York is getting $12,000.” The governor asked: “How can that be, because in the Senate it became a game of ‘political pork’ – I want my share.” Cuomo also expressed his dismay that the SALT tax was repealed. He labeled it a “political maneuver” stressing that “it never should have been done in the first place.” His reminder is that New York’s economy is a mainstay of America and that what happens in New York City is crucial for the entire country..
The New York governor said he is going to issue two Executive Orders. The first one will require employers of essential workers to provide protective medical masks cost-free to their employees. The second order will expand the rules on who can conduct antibody tests and will involve expanding the number of people who can administer those tests. Cuomo reminded everyone that New York is still in a critical situation and said: “We are going day to day, watching the numbers. Every informed projection by experts has not turned out correct.” He commented that he and the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut will discuss coming up with “a reopening plan that is also a health plan.” Cuomo said: “We’ve closed down in a way we’ve never closed down before,” but he said “we will come back to live and we will have a rebirth.” He emphasized that the “rebirth” is “about our people and our spirit.”
Governor Cuomo said that despite going through the dark period of looking at deaths and phone calls with families who lost loved ones – that there were some moments that were so “inspirational” and showed a “positive spirit.” He emphasized that this pandemic has brought out the worst and best in people. Cuomo remarked: “Some people that you expected things from will break your heart and other people you expect nothing from will surprise you.” To that end, the governor expressed his personal thanks to Pathways Nursing and Rehabilitation Center who he said called from out of the blue to offer 35 ventilators to borrow for downstate hospitals.The governor told them in his briefing: “Thank you to Pathways Nursing and Rehabilitation Center who gave those and thank you from me because they brought me inspiration and hope and energy at a time when I personally really needed it.” Cuomo said he was incredulous when he heard that a nursing home was coming forward to assist. He added: “When I heard that news with all this bad and with all this negative, I said we’re going to be OK and we’re going to get through this. At the end of the day, good will win against bad.”
