Fast Facts:
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No on/off switch for restarting the economy
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The governor called reopening the state a “delicate balance.” He added that that it”™s never been done before, “So we”™ll listen to the experts and follow the data.”
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The change in newly hospitalized continues to decline
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Number of ICU patients down
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610 deaths in Westchester
The governors of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island have agreed to take a regional approach in planning to reopen the economy and restore activities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Govs. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, John Carney of Delaware and Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island participated in a conference call this afternoon to announce their agreement to work together.
Each state will have three representatives on the task force that will use facts, data and science to help formulate a plan to get the economy up to speed. They plan to begin working toward devising a plan tomorrow.
“Our pandemic here in Connecticut is all along that I-95 Metro-North corridor. We have hundreds of thousands of people going back and forth between New York and Connecticut. It’s the commuter for us but its also the COVID corridor which is why it’s so important we work together thoughtfully on this,” Lamont said.
“One thing that’s undeniable is that this virus does not stop at the border of any county, state, or country, but the impact is the same when it comes to our respective economies and healthcare systems,” Lamont said. “Working as a regional coalition to make the right decisions will lead to the best public health results for all of our residents. We must solve these problems together.”
Delaware’s Governor John Carney cautioned, “We still have a situation in Delaware that is getting worse. Infections of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are rising. Delawareans should stay home. Don’t go out in public unnecessarily. Don’t visit Delaware unless you need to see a doctor, or care for a family member. You’ll only increase everyone’s risk. At the same time, we need to look forward.”
When asked about President Trump’s position that the federal government can declare the country back open even though it was the governors who individually closed each state’s businesses and imposed social distancing, Cuomo said it follows that it is the governors who have control over reopening.
He added, however, that the federal government has a lot of lawyers at its disposal. Cuomo said he could imagine a situation where the president says, “The federal government will determine what the states do.”
Earlier in the day, Cuomo reported the COVID-19 death toll in New York state had passed the 10,000 mark and stood at 10,056. Cuomo said that although statistics indicate that the disease outbreak has hit a plateau, the matter of reopening the economy and day-to-day activities needs to be addressed in a slow, deliberate, methodical manner so as not to touch off a new wave of illness and death.
Cuomo’s approach to the reopening stood in sharp contrast to the approach advocated by Trump, who against the advice of some advisers, said yesterday he wanted to reopen the U.S. economy with a “big bang.”
Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said a reopening could happen in four to eight weeks. After first having promoted Easter Sunday as an opening day, Trump floated May 1 as a new date.
“We’re ahead of schedule,” Trump said at the White House yesterday, adding, “It would be nice to open with a big bang.”
Cuomo said there is no on/off switch for restarting the economy. He said the economic valve needs to be reopened slowly. With each incremental move of the valve the effect in terms of new cases and new deaths needs to be monitored, Cuomo advocated, so that if there is an unacceptable increase the valve can be closed back down.
He said there is no short-term point at which to declare “it’s over.” Cuomo said the only point at which the pandemic truly will be over is when there are adequate treatments for the virus and a vaccine is widely available.
Cuomo pointed to a time line for that of 12 to 18 months as predicted by many in the health care, research and pharmaceutical sectors, including Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci has been a key government expert in providing public briefings on the pandemic and laying out facts and their meanings for President Trump.
Yesterday, Trump took to Twitter to deliver a message from a conservative commentator calling for Fauci to be fired.
Cuomo said that the economic shutdown and social distancing measures have demonstrated that the virus can be controlled. He said society must stay the course and not be mislead by a belief that one’s personal hunch is more reliable than facts and data.
He said the objectives in reopening should be first to ease the isolation imposed on people. Next would be to increase economic activity, and he noted the economy was never entirely shut down.
Cuomo said as economic activity increases there will be a need to recalibrate the “essential worker” economy because more and more people will fall into the essential category. While that’s going on, there will be a need to apply more testing for the presence of the virus and take additional precautions so as not to increase the infection rate.
While Cuomo reported that 1,958 people were newly hospitalized in New York for COVID-19 yesterday, that number is the lowest it has been since March 29. The number of intensive care unit admissions yesterday was in negative territory, with the number of ICU patients shrinking by 42.
Cuomo saw some stability in the medical situation when reviewing the percentages of cases by various areas in the state. The percentages have remained essentially steady for about two weeks, with New York City yesterday having 65% of the cases, Long Island having 22%, Westchester and Rockland having 8% and the rest of the state having 6%.
Cuomo emphasized that as reopening the economy continues to be an issue in the coming days he will not sugarcoat the numbers nor add political spin and will only tell people the truth accompanied by the facts for them to see for themselves.
“They get all the facts, I’m not going to shape the information they get. ‘Here are all the numbers.’ But, and here’s my policy based on the numbers. And here’s what I suggest and I hope you think it is not only credible but competent and smart and I hope you accept it,” Cuomo said.
Statistics obtained this afternoon from the state Department of Health reveal that Westchester now has 19,786 identified cases of COVID-19. Rockland has 7,965 cases, while 502 have been positively identified in Putnam. There are 5,182 cases attributed to Orange County and 1,881 to Dutchess.
There have been 610 deaths in Westchester from the virus, with 557 of the fatalities being Westchester residents. There have been 197 Rockland residents killed by the virus, 30 fatalities identified as Putnam residents, 122 deaths in Orange County and 37 deaths in Dutchess.
