Cuomo: New York Will Scale Back Reopening if Virus Spreads Again
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says COVID-19 has "deceived us" since day one.
On Tuesday, Cuomo announced hospital and intubation rates are down, but deaths were slightly up. 195 New Yorkers died in the past 24 hours, up from 161 on yesterday, bringing the statewide total to 21,835.
Cuomo said there are now about 100 cases of what's believed to be a COVID-19 related inflammation illness in young people. The ages range from infancy to 21. Cuomo reported three young people have died from this mysterious illness.
He believes if it's happening in New York, it's happening elsewhere, or will soon.
"This virus has deceived us every step of the way," he said.
The children have symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock-like syndrome, which is believed to be linked to coronavirus, Cuomo noted. Signs of Kawasaki disease include a rash on the palms and soles, fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, swollen lymph nodes, and inflammation or red eyes.
Cuomo again stated New York will begin to reopen on a regional basis and in a controlled, safe way. All information for each region is available HERE.
"We want all New Yorkers to have the facts. The one thing I did right is communicate,' Cuomo said.
He said it's up to local governments in each region to adjust or "turn off the valve" in terms of the reopening process if the COVID-19 infection rate goes up during the reopening process.
He hopes it doesn't happen but says New York will have to scale back on reopening if there is another spread of the virus.
"Calibrate intelligently the reopening. Hopefully, you never have to close again. And you keep those margins where hopefully you can manage them," Cuomo said. "Sorry to keep coming back to the valve, but I'm a visual person. Watch those gauges. Those gauges stay down, open the valve."
He said 14 days between each phase is an "estimate" because it gives officials time to gauge the spread of the virus. He did say if the numbers continue to go down, officials could accelerate the phases.
Cuomo wants the federal government to fund New York State and help working families. He said another federal stimulus bill needs to reimage America. He called for an investment in public infrastructure.
"The federal government bailed out big corporations and gave millionaires a tax cut in the first COVID bills. It’s time for them to fund: -State and local governments -Testing and tracing programs -A real economic stimulus that helps working Americans," Cuomo tweeted during his press conference.
He proposed a new law "The Americans First Law." He said the federal government can't help big corporations and not the American people. His proposal would refuse government bailouts for companies who don't rehire employees that were laid off.
"If you don't hire the same number of employees pre-pandemic, give the money back," he said.