By Janet Ekstract
NEW YORK (TURKISH JOURNAL) – In Wednesday’s daily briefing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said a major priority in reopening New York City will be revamping technology throughout the city. He said the ‘new normal’ means “coming back better” and “not to go back to where we were.” Cuomo added; ‘We learn, we improve from a horrendous situation.”
The governor said the question is: “How do we really use new technology in the economy of tomorrow?” He emphasized that to get New York City’s technology updated: “We need the best minds available to put together with the best thinking we can find to make the improvements.” To that end, Cuomo said that Google’s former CEO, Eric Schmidt who the governor praised as a “visionary” has agreed to work with his team to modernize the city’s technology. Schmidt said his first priority will be telehealth and remote broadband solutions to “help the people most in need.” Schmidt added: “We need to use technology to make things better. We have systems that need updating and review. My commitment is to make systems stronger.” Cuomo explained: “History does show people are ready for change at certain moments. I believe this is one of those moments.”
The governor highlighted that how New York reopens will be: “By following facts and data as opposed to emotion and politics.” He reiterated: “Base your decisions on the facts.” Cuomo pointed out that while the number of coronavirus cases in other parts of America are “going up” – “what we’re doing shows results.” Cuomo said his current focus is on where new cases are originating and said he’s told hospitals to prioritize tracking where these new patients come from. He highlighted that the majority originate in downstate \New York where there are many minority communities while 18% originate in Long Island and that Rockland and Westchester dropped to 11%. Cuomo’s concerns include what he said are the “disproportionate” number of cases in minority communities as well as seeing a trend in higher cases with males than females. The most surprising find he explained was that of the 66% who tested positive, most of those people said they remained at home.
New York’s governor said this is “one of the most challenging times” for his state and that though the number of deaths is on the decline that it’s still an “unimaginable, painful reality we have to deal with.” Cuomo praised frontline healthcare workers: “We love our healthcare workers and especially our nurses.” He said that to “honor their effort'” that JetBlue is offering 100,000 medical personnel and nurses free roundtrip tickets..
Cuomo. stressed that if the number of cases and deaths are to continue to decline that New Yorkers will be the ones to make it happen. As he reminded New Yorkers: “Now, it’s up to you. Are you wearing the mask? Are you doing the hand sanitizer? He reemphasized that it’s each individual’s personal behaviors that are responsible for turning the number of cases around.
