By Janet Ekstract
NEW YORK (TURKISH JOURNAL) – New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo announced at his Thursday daily briefing that Stay-at-home orders are valid through May 15 and that children two years-old and up must wear face masks. The governor has reiterated that it would be a mistake to reopen the economy too early when the curve hasn’t yet reached its lowest percentage. Cuomo shared the sobering news that 606 people died on Wednesday and that daily, 2,000 people are diagnosed with the coronavirus. He said: “It’s continuing at a tragic rate.”
The governor said the decision to extend stay-at-home orders is a “regional pact.” The regional pact includes seven states and Cuomo added that the governors will speak with President Trump about their state guidelines for reopening their economies on Thursday and also discuss federal guidelines. In his Wednesday briefing, Cuomo stated that the decision on when to reopen lies with individual governors as written in the 10th amendment to the American Constitution. Trump has received blowback for his insistence that he has sole authority to control when various states choose to reopen.
A major issue with reopening is the fact that certain groups are protesting face mask requirements which Cuomo says he fully understands. But the governor explained: “You have a liability, a responsibility to not infect others. I understand the opposition and I understand the deaths and the toll on the healthcares system. “Asking New Yorkers to wear a mask at this time is more than reasonable, I understand that some disagree.”
As far as reopening the tri-state area economically, Cuomo said: “We need to Un-Pause New York. We are working with a lot of companies that are working on treatments. We are working on treatments in our hospitals but that’s research and development. He stressed that the pandemic is only really over “when you have a vaccine which is 12-18 months out.” The governor emphasized that New York has offered to test a vaccine and that he already spoke to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) about this.
“We have a chance to be more intelligent about our healthcare system,” which the governor said includes phasing in economic return to the ‘new normal.’ He added: “Our goal is that the ‘new normal’ will be a better New York. The question is he pondered: “How do we learn the lessons so the “new normal’ is a better New York?”
To that end, Cuomo commented: “This new testing world is a new frontier for all of us, we set a very ambitious goal.” Regarding testing, specific questions must be asked, he reiterated. Are there certain business that are inherently safer or can be safer? The governor said: “Let’s talk about how we open them and where we open them. How risky is that business from a rate of infection?” The governor remarked: “You do it in phases of priority then you phase it up by percentages – an ongoing process over the coming weeks that we’re working through with other states.” The most crucial is to coordinate the opening with other states. He emphasized: “This is really a regional issue.” We’ll talk through everything first – The private sector now has to think about what they do and how they can do it differently. Cuomo explaıned: In this ‘new normal’ – how many people can continue to work from home and keep the business afloat – how do you get employees back and forth and where will they sit or stand – how do you do it without conference meetings without gatherings – tell us how you intend to conduct and organize your business.”
The governor said, to figure all this out, a partnership with the federal government is required, especially with testing. He said: “We’ve done 500,000 tests in 30 days if you compare that to 19 million in the state, that number doesn’t sound so big.” Cuomo shared that it will be crucial to coordinate private labs, demand for the labs – all while 50 states are competing to buy products from these labs. He mentioned that he spoke to the White House, saying: “The federal government is not eager to get involved in testing but a state does not have a capacity to do this.” Cuomo reiterated that the federal government must step up and added: “I’m very much looking forward to the federal government’s understanding in this.” No one will do this process at “optimum performance” Cumo emphasized, but said if everyone works together, “we can do better” to strengthen our healthcare system.”
Meanwhile, the trickiest part of reopening the economy, Cuomo warned, will be the calibration of the infection rate. In such a scenario, he cautioned with advanced testing, one would need to know how many people an infected person was in contact with, track them down and then isolate them to prevent spread. He said that’s the job of the antibody test and noted that early projection models by research organizations assumed a higher rate of spread. The governor added: “They were predicting two-thirds of the population would be hospitalized but we have prevented that due to stay-at-home orders and social distancing.” Cuomo cautioned that when one person infects two people or more that this is the most dangerous situation. He commented: “This is what we have to control as we start to reopen the economy. The meter is the virus spread rate and the hospitalization rate. The governor’s reasoning for keeping people at home and businesses shuttered through May 15 is as he explained: “Our infection spread rate is point 9. We only have a margin of error of between .9-1.2. New York PAUSE has worked. That’s how we got it down. However, we’re not there yet. Wuhan got down to point three.” Cuomo says that should be New York’s goal as well.
