Complacency and arrogance are threatening to undo the progress New York state has made in containing the COVID-19 virus, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo told a New York City news conference today.
“You look at the festivities over July 4th you see gatherings that are not social distanced, they”™re not wearing masks. You see it in Manhattan, you see it on Fire Island, there are reports upstate of gatherings that aren”™t socially distanced and people aren”™t wearing masks,” Cuomo said. “I don”™t know how to say it. Actions have consequences.”
Cuomo expressed alarm at the increase in infections being seen in dozens of states and warned that the virus already is being brought into New York from other places in the U.S. just as it was originally brought into New York by travelers coming from Europe.
“An outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere. That’s the new mentality we have to have,” Cuomo said. “We have had significant clusters where people came from out of state. They came in, they attended a function, bang. Next day. We’ve had an increase in infections.” There was just such a cluster in Chappaqua where a traveler from Florida attended high school graduation celebrations.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer this afternoon said that there were 27 cases of COVID-19 in the Chappaqua cluster.
“Somehow COVID has become a political issue. I never heard of a virus becoming political,” Cuomo said. “If you deny the problem, then you will never solve it. We”™re not the United States of Denial. If we do not as a nation acknowledge the COVID increase, it is going to continue.”
Cuomo was blunt in criticizing President Trump.
“If you”™re going to take action and be committed to it, it starts at the top with leadership. The president said over this weekend if we didn”™t test so much and so successfully, we would have very few cases. OK? Think about that for a second. What he”™s really saying is if we didn”™t test, we wouldn”™t find the cases and if we didn”™t find the cases, we wouldn”™t have a problem. That”™s incredible, but that”™s what he”™s saying.”
Cuomo said if we followed Trump”™s thinking there should be no more cancer tests, no more mammograms because we don”™t want to know and that will solve breast cancer. He added we would have no more prostate checks to solve prostate cancer and with no more tuberculosis checks there would be an end to TB and if there were no more HIV tests that will solve the AIDS issue.
“Mr. President, don”™t be a co-conspirator with COVID,” Cuomo said, calling on Trump to stop making up things. He said Trump should wear a mask and say to the American people, “This is real and it”™s a problem and we have to do our part.”
Cuomo displayed on video screens a doctored photo of Trump with a mask over his face.
“He makes up facts, he makes up science. He wants to deny the COVID virus. He has from day one. ”˜Well, it”™s just like the flu. It”™s going to be done by Easter. It”™s going to get warm and its going to disappear like a miracle.”™ He said all of those things and none of them were true. And now we have a problem in 38 states because some people believed him,” Cuomo said. “He is part of that current debacle we”™re in.”
Cuomo announced that the New York State Fair, scheduled to begin in Syracuse Aug. 21, has been canceled for this year.
He said there still is no determination of whether schools will be permitted to reopen in the fall.
According to statistics obtained from the state Department of Health this afternoon, there have been a total of 24,913 COVID-19 deaths in New York.
Deaths in Westchester now total 1,560, with 1,427 Westchester residents falling victim to the virus. The number of Rockland residents who have died remains at 506. The number of Putnam residents killed by the virus remains at 63. A total of 404 Orange County residents have died from the virus. Deaths in Dutchess County are 160.
New York has had 397,649 people test positive for the virus. There now have been a cumulative total of 35,084 cases identified in Westchester, 13,656 in Rockland, 1,337 in Putnam, 10,781 in Orange and 4,246 in Dutchess.
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