we watch the other countries you see
that trajectory
and trying to turn the trajectory but as
of now the numbers are
continuing to increase what we're
working very hard to do
is to keep the rate of increase of the
spread of the disease
to a level that we can manage it in our
hospital system
we have 53 000 hospital beds available
right now the curve suggests we could
need 110 000
hospital beds and that is an obvious
problem
and that's what we're dealing with you
have the nation's role
in the situation you also have the
state's role
this is what they call an emergency
management situation and there are rules
for emergency management
who does what basically this state
governments
local governments manage an emergency
unless
the emergency overwhelms the capacity of
the local government
and then the higher level of government
takes over
that happens even on the state level a
city will be in charge a county will be
in charge
unless it overwhelms their capacity and
then the state
comes in and takes over the federal
government has made a decision to leave
the states in charge of deciding
quarantine procedures whether to open
whether to close
that's why you see new york taking
certain actions illinois taking certain
actions different states taking certain
actions
because the federal government thus far
has said different situations in
different states
let the states decide dependent upon the
number of cases they have
and i think that has been right to date
that could change but it's been right to
date
however the federal government should
nationalize medical supply acquisition
the states simply cannot manage it this
state cannot manage it
states all across the country can't
manage it certainly the states that are
dealing with the highest case load can't
handle it but you're hearing it all
across the country from states they just
can't deal with finding the medical
supplies that they need
and that's why i believe the federal
government should
take over that function of
contracting and acquiring
all the medical supplies that we need
currently when states are doing it we
are competing against other states
in some ways we're savaging other states
i'm trying to buy
masks i'm competing with california and
illinois and florida
and that's not the way it should be
frankly price gouging
is a tremendous problem and it's only
getting worse
there are masks that we were paying 85
cents for
we're now paying seven dollars
why because i'm competing against
every other state and in some cases
against other countries around the world
ventilators which are the most precious
piece of equipment for this situation
they range in price from sixteen
thousand dollars to forty thousand
dollars each
and new york state needs thirty thousand
ventilators this is just an
impossible situation uh to manage if we
don't get the equipment
we can lose lives that we could have
otherwise
saved if we had the right equipment
the federal government has two options
to handle this
voluntary partnership with companies
where the federal government says the
companies
i would appreciate it if you would work
with us and do this
and the president has done that and he
seems to have gotten a good response on
a voluntary basis
the other way is what's called the
defense production act
where the federal government has the
legal authority to say to companies
you must produce this now
it is invoking a federal law it is
mandating that private companies do
something
but i think it is appropriate if i had
the power
i would do it in new york state because
the situation is that critical i think
the federal government should order
factories to manufacture masks
gowns ventilators the essential medical
equipment that's going to make the
difference between life and death
it's not hard to make a mask or ppe
equipment or a gown
but you need companies to do it we have
apparel companies that can make
clothing well then you can make a
surgical gown and you can make a mask
but they have to be ordered to do it if
the federal government does it
then they can do it in a very orderly
way they can decide how many they need
they can designate how many each factory
should produce
and then they could distribute those
goods by need
rather than having these states all
compete
against each other it would also be less
expensive
because it would avoid the price gouging
that is now
happening in this marketplace
i can tell what's happening i'll
contract with the company for 1
000 masks they'll call back 20 minutes
later and say the price just went up
because they had a better offer
and i understand that other states who
are desperate
for these goods literally offer more
money than we were paying and it's just
a a race
that's raising prices
higher and higher we even have hospitals
competing against other hospitals
if the federal government came in use
the defense production act
you could resolve all of that
immediately
also we need the product
now we have cries from hospitals around
the state
i've spoken to other governors around
the country they have the same situation
they need these materials now
and only the federal government can make
that happen so i believe the federal
government should immediately
utilize the defense production act
implement that immediately let's get
those medical supplies running
and let's get them moving as quickly as
possible
in terms of federal government funding
they should prioritize
the funding individuals need money
you're laid off you're going paycheck to
paycheck
we took care of the rent issue here in
new york
the mortgage payment but you have to buy
food
you have to buy essentials and if you
haven't worked and you're laid off
you're in trouble so i think the federal
government is exactly right the
president
has talked about this get funding
to the into the pockets of families that
needed
to live second money to governments
i'm spending money right now that we
don't have
i'm not going to deprive people of
medical services
but the economy is stopped people are
not paying their taxes
if you're not paying your taxes that's a
state source of revenue
so funding from the federal government
is essential for me
and third the corporate subsidies
that the president is talking about i
think is also right
but the corporate funding
should not be a gift to
corporations at the taxpayers expense
let's learn from what happened in 2008.
i was attorney general
at that time in the state of new york
where we bailed out corporations
they bought back stock they paid
they paid their corporate executives
handsomely
they benefited from taxpayer money
and the taxpayers wound up getting none
of the profits
the citizens should benefit from the
corporate
success if the government takes equity
if the government charges an interest
rate
but this time if the taxpayers are going
to bail out these big corporations
make sure the taxpayers share in the
success of these corporations
let's do it right this time
also the federal funding they're working
on another coronavirus
bill i was in washington for eight years
this should not be the usual sausage
making of pork barrel right
when you do a piece of legislation in
washington most legislatures
it becomes the expression sausage making
it becomes pork barrel it goes through
the political process
and the political process says everybody
should get
some money which dilutes the funding
gives it to communities and governments
that don't really need the funding
and doesn't even address the need it's
one of the reasons why people
are so suspect of government spending
right because it winds up pork barrel
every senator is going to say
i want money for my state every congress
person
says i want money for my local district
i want to be able to go home with a
little package
that i can hand to my local government
that's not what this is about in this
case
this is about addressing a need
and getting funding precious funding
to people in places that need it and the
rule here should be
money follows the need it's that simple
what place is needed self-serving but
new york state has 15
times more cases than any other state
right now
fund the states fund the places that
need it
follow the number of cases and use
need as the basis for funding it's
common sense
it will be respected by the people of
this nation
and the alternative to politicize this
funding process
is intolerable to my congressional
delegation
i say look new york received
no funding from the first coronavirus
bill
even though new york has the greatest
need and that was a technical
mistake in the way they wrote the bill
political custom is
one politician politician or elected
official should not
pressure people of their own party my
congressional
delegation is largely democrat so
political custom would be well
don't pressure another democratic
elected official
i say that is baloney i
represent all the citizens of the state
of new york
that is my job it's a very simple job i
have
i fight for new yorkers period democrats
republicans
period and this is no time to play
politics
and we need our congressional delegation
to stand up and to fight for new york
also on the federal roll i'm requesting
today from the federal government
that the army corps immediately proceed
to erect temporary hospitals
i went out yesterday i surveyed the
sites
there are several good options that give
us regional coverage
a an army corps temporary hospital at
stony brook which is on long island
west berry which is on long island
westchester where we have that
terrible cluster which is thank goodness
reducing and the javits center which is
a very large convention center in
manhattan
in new york and new york city is
obviously where we have the highest
number of cases
the i met with the army corps they've
reviewed these sites
i approve it uh i approve it on behalf
of the state of new york
and now we just have to get it done and
get it done quickly these temporary
hospitals are helpful
but they don't bring supplies and they
don't bring staff
and that compounds our problem
of not having enough medical supplies
and frankly compounds our problem of not
having enough
medical staff because we are trying to
increase the capacity
in our existing hospitals the
the sites that we picked allow for
indoor assembly of these facilities so
they won't be out of doors
they'll be indoors some places we may
need to do them outdoors
but these campuses also have dormitories
where the healthcare staff can stay
they're very large there's space and
again
i have up made all necessary approvals
so from my point of view construction
can start
tomorrow these are pictures of
the places where we would assemble them
in
stony brook old westbury westchester
county center
in westchester all indoor locations all
open already accessible javits center
we just expanded it it's one of the
largest convention centers in the
country
it's open it is ready to go there is no
red tape
on the side of new york we're also
asking fema to come in federal emergency
management agency to come in and erect
four federal hospitals at the javits
center
the federal hospital by fema is
different
than the army corps of engineer
temporary facility
the fema hospitals come with staff
and with supplies they're in 250 bed
configurations
we're asking for four of those 250 bed
configurations
to be assembled in the javits center the
javits center can easily manage them
it's in the heart of manhattan they're
fully equipped they're fully staffed
again we are ready to go as soon as the
federal government is ready to go
that will then give us regional coverage
in downstate new york which is our most
heavily impacted
area the president signed the fema
emergency declaration which allows
fema to go to work by that emergency
declaration
funding for these services is split 75
by the federal government 25 percent by
the state
government the federal government can
waive the state's share as they call it
waive the 25 from the state i'm also
requesting that the president waive the
25 percent
i just cannot pay the 25 percent
we literally don't have the funding to
do it
and by the way i don't believe any state
will be in a position to waive the 25
percent
so i don't just say that on my behalf i
say that on behalf
of all the governors i'm the vice
chairman of the national governors
association i've been speaking with
governors all across the nation
no state has the financial capacity
to participate in my opinion but i know
for sure
new york doesn't because we are the
heavy
heaviest hit state right now
i'm asking the president to do what i
did here in the state of new york
cut the red tape cut the bureaucracy
just cut to the chase get the army of
corvette engineers moving
get fema moving let's get those
buildings up let's have them in place
before that trajectory hits its
apex time matters
minutes count and this is literally a
matter of life and death we get these
facilities up we get the supplies
we will save lives
if we don't we will lose lives i don't
mean
to be overly dramatic but i want to be
honest
and that is the simple fact of this
matter
we're also implementing the trial drug
we have secured 70 000 hydro
chloroquine ten thousand zithra max
from the federal government i want to
thank the fda for moving
very expeditiously to get us this supply
the president ordered the fda to move
and the fda moved
we're going to get this supply and the
trial will start this tuesday
the president is optimistic about this
about these drugs and we are all
optimistic
that it could work i've spoken with a
number of health officials and there is
a good basis to believe that they could
work
some health officials point to africa
which has a very low infection rate
and there's a theory that because
they're taking this anti-malarial drug
in africa
it may actually be one of the reasons
why the infection rate is low in africa
we don't know but let's find out and
let's find out
quickly and i agree with the president
on that and we're going to start and
we're going to start
tuesday i also think the fda
should start approving serious logical
testing for corona virus antibodies and
they should do it as soon as possible
what this does is it tests the blood
to see if you have antibodies that were
created to fight the coronavirus
remember all the health officials say
the coronavirus was here before we
started to test
many more people have had the
coronavirus than we think
most people have resolved the
coronavirus
who have had it how do you know that
you can test and find the antibody that
the body
created to fight the virus
if you have that antibody it means you
had the virus
and you resolved it why do you want to
know that
because i want to know who had it who
has the antibody which means
they most probably will not get it again
and that can help us get our medical
staff back to work
faster so it's a different level of
testing
but i think the fda should move
as expeditiously as they have before
on this type of testing find out who had
it who has the antibodies
and that will help us especially on
medical staff shortages also
on the state role what am i supposed to
do
i'm not just looking to the federal
government i understand that
we are responsible here in the state of
new york and we're doing everything we
can
on hyperspeed we have to expand
the existing hospital capacity this gets
back to the 53
000 current beds when we may need 110
000 beds
we have said to the hospital
administrators we have a goal
of you increasing your capacity in each
hospital by 100 percent
yes an ambitious goal yes very difficult
yes it may be impossible in some places
but remember a hospital is highly
regulated
space is regulated the number of beds in
a room
is highly regulated we're waving all
those
regulations and saying just from a
physical capacity point of view
see if you can increase your capacity
100
where do we get 100 percent we have 53
000 beds we have to get to 110
000 beds everybody increases by a
hundred percent
we meet the goal simple a little too
simple
but we understand many hospitals won't
be able to do it
however at a minimum
hospitals must give us a plan to
increase capacity by at least
50 percent so we would be at about 75
000 minimum against the 110
need we would still have to find
additional beds i understand that
and you see what we're doing with the
federal government there's an
opportunity there
but every hospital goal of
100 increase in capacity
mandate a 50 increase in capacity
we also have an intensive care unit
bed issue where we have to increase the
number of intensive care units
that is limited by the number of
ventilators what makes an icu bed an icu
bed in this case
it's that the icu bed has a ventilator
and that's where we get back to needing
the ventilators desperately
so we have those icu beds
we're putting out a department of health
emergency order to hospitals
that says we're not just asking you to
do this
it wouldn't just be a nice thing i'm not
just asking you as governor
as a civic obligation
this is a law that the hospitals must
come up with a plan
to increase capacity a minimum of 50
goal
of 100 percent we're also
canceling all elective non-critical
surgery
for hospitals as of wednesday elective
non-critical if it's a critical surgery
fine if it's not critical then
postpone it that alone should get us 25
to 35 percent
more beds and again that is a
mandate that is going into effect for
the hospitals
i understand the hospitals are not happy
about it
i've heard that the
elective surgery is a big source of
revenue for the hospitals
i understand that but this is not about
money this is about
uh public health and we're putting that
mandate and place uh starting today
we're also creating additional beds in
places where we can we're taking over
existing residential facilities
hotels nursing homes
and repurposing existing facilities for
example this is the brooklyn center for
rehabilitation and health care
600 beds that we're going to take over
and it will serve as a temporary
hospital
and we're doing this in facilities all
across the state
two different facts i want to make sure
we're clear just so there's no confusion
fact one young people
can get the coronavirus
they are wrong when they say they can't
get it
they can get it 18 to 49 year olds
represent
53 percent of the total cases in new
york this is not china this is not south
korea
on the theory that well i'm an american
youth and therefore i'm
have a superior immune system than china
or south korea no
that theory is not correct in new york
53 of the cases 18 to 49 years old
second fact older people
and those with compromised immune system
underlying illnesses
can die from the coronavirus
you're right the 18 to 49 year old
is probably not lethal but you can get
it
and you can get sick and it's a nasty
uh illness and then you can transfer to
someone
else that's the case for young people
older people obviously if you're a
vulnerable person it can
be lethal both facts are true
and both facts have to be understood
young people can get it you will get
sick
you probably won't die but you can
transfer it to someone
who may very well die and you can
transfer
it even uh inadvertently
without knowing you're doing it you can
touch a surface
walk away a day later someone can sit at
this
table and put their hand in the same
place
and contract the virus
i was in new york city yesterday it was
a pretty day
uh there is a density level
in new york city that
is wholly inappropriate
you would think there was nothing going
on in parts of new york city
you would think it was just a bright
sunny saturday
i don't know what i'm saying that people
don't get
i'm normally accused of being overly
blunt
and direct and i take that
it's true i don't know what they're not
understanding
this is not life as usual none of this
is life as usual
and this kind of density we talk about
social distancing
i was in these parks it you would not
you would not know that anything was
going on
this is just a mistake it's a mistake
it's insensitive it's arrogant
it's self-destructive it's disrespectful
to
other people and it has to stop and it
has to stop now
this is not a joke and i am not kidding
we spoke with the mayor of the city of
new york
and the speaker of the city council
corey johnson
i told both of them that this is a
problem in new york city
it's especially a problem in new york
city parks
new york city must develop an immediate
plan
to correct this situation i want a plan
that we can review
in 24 hours so that we can approve it
there are many options you have much
less traffic
in new york city because non-essential
workers aren't going to work
get creative open streets
to reduce the density you want to go for
a walk god bless you you want to go for
a run
god bless you but let's open streets
let's open
space that's where people should be in
open space
areas not in dense locations there is no
group activity in parks
that is not the point we spoke about it
the other day
all sorts of kids playing basketball
yesterday
i play basketball there's no concept of
social distancing while playing
basketball
it doesn't exist you can't stay
six feet away from a person playing
basketball
you can but then you're a lousy
basketball player and you're going to
lose
you just cannot do that we also have
bigger parks
in new york city we opened shirley
chisholm park in brooklyn
400 acres
van courtland park there are big parks
there are big spaces that's where you
want to be but we need a plan from new
york city
i want it in 24 hours because this
is a significant problem that has to be
corrected
in terms of numbers i said yesterday new
york
is testing more people
than any state in the country
and per capita more than any country on
the globe
that is a positive
accomplishment pardon the pun because we
want
we want testing we want more testing we
ramped up very quickly we're doing it
better than anyone else
and that is a good thing because when
you identify a positive then you can
isolate that person and that's exactly
what we're trying to do
when you increase the number of tests
you're going to increase the number of
people who test
positive and the numbers show
exactly that we have now tested 61
000 people uh
newly tested 15 000
people so these numbers just are
exponential
to what is uh being done anywhere else
in the country
and that's why you're going to see much
higher numbers than anywhere else
total number of new cases fifteen
thousand
i'm sorry total number of cases fifteen
thousand total number of new cases
four thousand eight hundred new cases
you see the state more and more counties
we're just down to a handful of counties
now where we don't have existing cases
as i said that is going to be 100
percent covered it's just a matter
of time on the hospitalization rate
which is a number that i watch very
closely it's nineteen hundred cases out
of fifteen thousand
thirteen percent thirteen percent is
actually
lower than it has been we've been
running
at 15 16 as high as 20 percent
this is 13 this is
the key indicator because this is saying
how many people are going to come into
your health care system as the number
goes up
so this is a is
is not bad news
across the country you see new york now
has fifteen thousand cases
washington state sixteen hundred
california fifteen hundred so we have uh
roughly fifteen times
the number of cases now do we really
have 15 times the number of cases
uh you don't know we're testing much
more than anyone else
so that is a major factor in this
but i have no doubt that we have more
cases we have more density we have more
people from other countries
who come to new york than many other
states
so i i have no reason to believe
that we don't have more i don't believe
we have 15 times
more i believe that's also a factor that
we test more than anyone else
uh 114 new deaths total number of deaths
374. and that is a
sobering uh sad
and really distressing fact
that should give everyone pause because
that's what this is
all about is saving lives
and we've lost 374
new yorkers keeping it all in
perspective
johns hopkins has followed this from day
one
three hundred and eleven thousand cases
thirteen thousand deaths
statewide deaths
to the extent we can research the
cause of death and the demographics of
death but we're seeing
roughly 70 percent of those who passed
away
were 70 years old or older
and the majority had underlying health
conditions
okay so it is what we said it was
approximately 80 of the deaths of those
under 70 years old had an underlying
health condition
so young people can get it
young people will get sick young people
can transfer it
mortality lethality
older compromised immune system
underlying illness that's what we're
seeing
but even within that population
the capacity of our health care system
can save those lives
it doesn't mean just because you're 80
and you have a compromised immune system
or you have an underlying health
condition and you get coronavirus
you must pass away
that's going to depend on how good our
health care system is
but in terms of overall perspective
i'm afraid for myself i'm afraid for my
sister i'm afraid for my child
older underlying illness
be very very very careful this gets back
to matilda's law this gets back to my
mother
that's my fear this gets back to nursing
homes senior care facilities etc
personal advice this is not factual i
try to present
facts i try to present everything i know
i try to present unbiased facts i try to
present
numbers because people need information
when do you get anxious
when you get fearful when you don't get
the information or you doubt the
information or you think people don't
know what they're talking about or you
think you're getting lied to
so uh i present facts
this is personal advice this is not
factual so it's all gratuitous you can
take it
you can throw it in the pail but
we have to think this situation through
don't be reactive at this point to this
situation
yes you are out of control
in many ways you're out of control
to this virus you're out of work
situations are changing they're not in
your control
you don't even know how long this is
going to go on
it's a very frightening feeling
that is true but you can also take back
some control start to anticipate
and plan what's going to go on
plan for the negatives and plan for the
positives
there are going to be negatives and
there are going to be positive they're
real
economic consequences how do you handle
the economic consequences you're not
alone
it's everyone in the united states
that's why you see this federal
government
acting quickly to get funding
into the pockets of families who need it
but think through
what the economics mean think through
the social issues and the social impact
of this
think through the emotional issues of
this
you know it would be unnatural
if you didn't have a flood of emotions
going on it would be unnatural
either you wouldn't understand what was
happening or you wouldn't appreciate it
but if you know the facts and you
understand what's going on
you have to have a flood of individual
emotions
positive and negative and
it you know stay home stay home stay
home whether you stay home
uh remember the old expression cabin
fever right you stay home alone
you don't want to be isolated
emotionally
you can be isolated physically you don't
want to be isolated emotionally you want
to keep those
emotional connections you want to talk
to people you want to write letters you
want to have
emotional connectivity that is very
important
if you're not alone and you're
in the house with the family
and the kids and everybody's together
that's a different set
of emotional complexities you know
being in that enclosed environment
normally the kids are out everybody's
going to work and you
you're only together a short period of
time a day now you're all in the same
place
for 24 hours you know i remember when
the kids were young
what it was like it was pure joy
but uh i remember what it was like to be
with them for multiple hours
you know it's complicated i live alone
uh i'm even getting annoyed with the dog
you know being in one place so
think that through because that is real
and uh it's going to go on for a period
of time this is not a short-term
situation
this is not a long weekend this is not a
week
the timeline nobody can tell you it
depends on how we handle it
but 40 percent up to 80 percent of the
population
will wind up getting this virus
all we're trying to do is slow the
spread but it will
spread it is that contagious
again that's nothing to panic over you
saw the numbers
unless you're older with an underlying
illness etc
it's something that you're going to
resolve but it's going to work its way
through society
uh we'll manage that capacity rate
but it is going to be four months
six months nine months you look at china
once they really change the trajectory
which we have not
done yet eight months
we're in that range nobody has a crystal
ball
nobody can tell you well i want to know
i want to know i need to know
nobody can tell you i've spoken to more
people on this issue than 99 percent of
the people
in this country no one can tell you
not from the superb dr fauci
to the world health organization to the
national institute of health
but it is in that range
so start the plan accordingly
it's going to be hard there is no doubt
i'm not minimizing it
and i don't think you should either but
at the same time it is going to be okay
we don't want to overreact
either right the grocery stores are
going to function there's going to be
food the transportation systems are
going to function the pharmacies are
going to be
open all essential services
will be maintained there's not going to
be chaos there's not going to be anarchy
order and function will be maintained
life is going to go on
different but life is going to go on
so there is no reason uh to be going to
grocery stores and hoarding
food you see all this overreaction on
the tv
every day which then makes you think
well maybe i'm i'm missing it maybe i
should run
to the store and buy toilet paper no
life is going to go on the toilet paper
is going to be there tomorrow
so a deep breath on all of that
but i do believe that whatever this is
four months six months nine months we
are going to be the better for it
you know they talk about the greatest
generation the generation that survived
world war
ii dealing with hardship
actually makes you stronger life
on the individual level on the
collective level on the social level
life is not about avoiding challenges
challenges are going to come your way
life is going to knock you on your rear
end at one point something will happen
and then life becomes about overcoming
those challenges that's what life is
about
and that's what this country is about
america
is america because we overcome adversity
and challenges
that's how we were born that's what
we've done
all our life we overcome
challenges and this is a period of
challenge
for this generation and that's what has
always made america great and that's
what's going to make this generation
great i believe that
to the bottom of my soul we're going to
overcome this
and america will be the greater foreign
and my hope is that new york
is going to lead the way forward and
together
we will questions
on new york city reducing its density is
it within your powers to do those sorts
of things and and
you're talking about closing streets to
traffic to
increase pedestrian traffic can you
explain the logic of what exactly that
would look like in new york city
uh i could make those decisions in new
york city
in truth uh jesse i only
look first of all i'm in new york city
born and bred if you can't tell
so i know new york city
from every kind of dimension
i don't know the situation with the
parks well enough
and i don't know the situation on
opening streets closing streets well
enough
and frankly i think the local officials
are in a better position
to make those decisions they see this
issue also
it's not that they don't see the issue
they see the issue they see the problem
i want them to come up with a plan
i think they're in a better position to
do it i want to know what it is
and i want to approve it because this is
a serious problem
that density has to be reduced and
it has to be reduced fast and that's why
i'm asking
for a plan from them in 24 hours but i
think they're in a better position to do
it would you imagine
closing parks and playgrounds and things
like that i want to see what they say
they know they know the problem they see
it i mean
it's all over the place it's not that
you know you need a microscope to find
this
it is all over the city now maybe it was
a nice day yesterday or whatever but
uh people it's it was all over the place
all the way up to the capital region are
running low on tests and medical
supplies they've
stopped um doing public testing some
have stopped the drive through testing
is that the right thing to do at this
point are we running low on medical
supplies
well joseph the main problem is the
equipment
it's the gowns
it's the masks it's the
ppe equipment and
we sent a million masks to new york city
yesterday
we have a million masks here
so we can supply hospitals
but we're talking about a very short
period of time
we're then scrambling to buy all these
masks i have companies
that are manufacturing masks for us
we're buying sewing machines to make
masks
but this is not the way it should be
done let the federal government
they have a law called the defense
production
act which is precisely for this
i get the president saying he wanted to
work voluntarily with private companies
and ask them to help and i get the
president saying the private companies
were great and they came forward and
they said we want to help
i get that i say forget the voluntary
partnership
order the companies to produce it let
the federal government do it
so that the private company doesn't wind
up
marketing with all these states that are
competing
think about it we paid 85 cents for a
mask we're now paying seven
dollars for the same mask
why because california will pay six
and illinois will pay 6.50
and florida will pay 6.75 i'm just
making up those numbers but
that's not the way it should be let the
federal government
take the function of
medical supply production and
distribution
just take it right when it came to
testing
i said the exact opposite i said to the
president on testing
when everything was going through the
fda and everything was going through the
cdc and it was slow
i said to the vice president
decentralize it
give that function to me the state why
i have 200 laboratories that i regulate
give it to me i'll turn on 200
laboratories
rather than going through a bottleneck
in the federal government everything has
to go through the fda and cdc
so i said in that in that situation give
me the task
i'll get it done faster so it's not like
i'm trying to
uh say the federal government should do
something
to take a burden off me i've accepted
the burden of testing from the federal
government
and by the way our numbers went through
the roof
this task they are in a better position
to do
than i am order the production
of masks and gowns and ventilators
give them a deadline don't get into this
mad bidding war
they know how to distribute it because
you look at where the cases are
and distribute it by the need of the
cases from washington
let them take that this is the the
president
can do this uh frankly it's the
president's
style to say uh
cut to the chase this has to be done
and i'm mandating it and he should do
that here
stop publicly testing and only test
people who are either in the hospital
or in serious condition at this point no
we are we
i'm not willing to give up the testing
because the testing
is one of the ways we slow the spread
there's only two ways to slow the spread
density reduction
which we're all over and we can't do
anything more than that we're already at
zero
on non-essential workers the second way
is
testing find the positive isolate the
positive
so i'm not willing to stop testing
because
because our number one job is slow
the trajectory of the increase because i
can't
handle it in the hospital system
but if the disease is becoming endemic
what's the point of testing i guess
you know if if you yourself said 80 of
the population
could become infected at what point is
it a diagnostic test
what is the point of time there is a
point of inflection your right
where you could hit a point where the
disease is so widespread
it's not worth the testing
we're not there yet jesse because we're
still
trying to stop the apex right we
have to bring down that curve
even if we're successful on this health
order
where we get the hospitals to go to 50
percent additional capacity i'm still at
only 75 000 beds when we need 110
i'm still only at 13 000
icu beds when i need 37
000 icu beds
i'm still at only six thousand
ventilators
when i need thirty thousand ventilators
so we have to do everything we can
to keep that curve down and
testing is essential to that
should police be breaking up
that's uh what i want to see from new
york city i want new york city i want
the mayor the city council
speaker corey johnson let them come up
with a plan
uh get it to me within 24 hours i want
to approve it
but i'm open to anything
but it has to be done quickly and it's
going to have to be dramatic action
excuse me one second because it's not i
i can't say anything more than i've said
right how many times can you say
you're being reckless and selfish
and you know brings out the best it
brings out the worst
we all talk about being a community
we're a community
what does a community mean we're
interconnected we're interdependent
i rely on you you rely on me that's
community
that's us at our best the community of
new york
i need to be able to rely on you and
that means you have to be smart and
responsible
in your actions and you have to be able
to rely on me and that means i have to
be smart
and responsible in my actions
and that's the social contract between
us
i have a right to expect that from you
especially in dire circumstances
and we're not there and we should be
there
and i'm going to keep saying it but
we're also going to be doing it
and i want the plant from new york city
to
make that a reality sorry i'm sorry
we are discussing we have done
increased absentee ballots
for elections i think is a good it's a
good idea
anyway we should have done it a long
time ago it's especially a good idea
when you don't want a lot of people
going to a
polling place uh melissa was handling
that
issue sure article two section two of
the constitution
says that there are only two ways that
you can vote absentee
one is if you're sick and the others if
you're unable to go to the poll over
time the legislature
has legislated what it means unable to
go to the poll as being out of county
and so what we're looking at is if our
executive authority
will allow us to overcome that or if we
have to talk to the legislature about
changing the law to allow for it
exactly that's what we're reviewing
right now
no we've look we've done everything we
can
they are the vulnerable area right
because they're a congregation of the
vulnerable population
we said no visitors which is
uh really dramatic and sad action right
you're in a nursing home you're alone
you
look forward to family visiting and then
we say
no family visitors we're encouraging
and working with the nursing homes for
telecommunications and skype and
facetime and all that
but nothing new
yes we have those regulations that
before the staff comes in they have to
be tested
staffers and hospitals in general
to prepare while we wait to see whether
the
federal government hears your call to
action
right now based on what you've described
to us we've got two separate
tracks it's a good question two separate
tracks one
state action assume no one else does
anything but you right
and i operate on that track assume the
federal government doesn't do anything
and it's just new york state and new
york state alone
and we're going down that track and i'm
doing everything possible
on every level to do just
that and that's increasing the hospital
capacity
minimum 50 percent goal of 100
they have to come up with a staffing
plan to do that
uh that's finding the medical supplies
for them i'm not stopping on the medical
supplies
we're manufacturing masks i'm talking to
uniform manufacturers to get them sewing
machines to
convert i have apparel companies that
manufacture in china to stop making
dresses to start making
gowns i mean we're doing every kind of
thing we can do
child care facilities for health care
workers
special protections for health care
workers assume
the federal government does nothing and
we have that plan in place
at the same time i am saying to the
federal government
you need to do what you need to do there
is a federal
role here and this emergency management
protocol well we
support the states yeah you support the
states if the states can do it
that's what the emergency management
protocol is i do this as a governor
there's a flood in erie county
okay eric county you're in charge
call me if you need something yeah i get
that
but if i know the flood can't be handled
by erie county
then i come in and i'm the governor and
i come in and i say to the county
executive
we're here i'm the governor i'm going to
bring state resources
i'm saying to the federal government
then i'm saying to the president
you should take over the medical supply
function invoke fully the federal
defense production act
order manufacturing companies to
manufacture it
every state is saying every city is
saying they're running out of medical
supplies
do that b get fema
get the army corps of engineers you have
the sites
tell them to come up here tomorrow and
start building those emergency hospitals
c pass the funding don't let the
congress make your pork barrel
don't let them make it uh a
political patronage where everybody
brings home 50 cents
but you actually don't fund the places
that need it and the people that need
it help the corporations
but don't help the corporations like we
did in 2008
where the senior executives get tens of
millions of dollars in bonuses
and now the taxpayers are supposed to
fund
that corporation to bail them out and
then the corporation two years from now
is making record profits
and the normal economy hasn't rebounded
and the taxpayer who subsidized the
corporation
is still struggling to pay their
mortgage we did that in 2008.
you want to give a corporation money say
okay here are the rules
you can't buy back stock uh i want the
bonuses to ceos back
i want a equity stake in the company
i want interest in the company interest
rate on the loan but something that gets
the profit back to the citizen
you know we're tired of making these big
corporations
rich at taxpayers expense
make sure the
make sure the corporations live up to
their civic responsibility
and you have total responsibility if
you're going to give them taxpayers
taxpayer money then you get to write the
rules
you know from the president's point of
view this is back to his old job
right somebody walks in and says uh i
want an investment in my company
okay i'll give you an investment in your
company but
here are the rules before i give you the
investment in that company
i need the federal government to do that
the
emergency supplies the funding to the
places that need it
i need my congressional delegation to
actually represent the state of new york
and deliver
we need fema here we need army corps of
engineers here
we need those functions working as
quickly as possible
and then we need federal assistance from
the federal government
if none of that happens then we're on
our own we're new yorkers we'll figure
it out
why don't you say i'm sorry
no need for referees
mean no need you cannot be evicted
for non-payment of rent one other piece
of good news
you know we talk about all these
increasing cases and
you get the virus most people the virus
resolves
good friend of mine great public
official rick cotton
head of the port authority he
had the coronavirus
never hospitalized he was home for
two weeks he is now tested negative
for the coronavirus so he's
self-resolved
it was about two weeks i don't even know
that he needed it all two weeks
i'm a little suspicious that maybe he
resolved in one week and then he just
took another week vacation but
i don't want to push the point i'm going
to go to work thank you guys very much
the state what
oh we are overwhelmed in the website we
have
700 people working
on the website and telephones
to handle the inflow of
insurance claims
it is crashing because we've never seen
this volume
the i.t consultants can't even figure
out how how to handle the volume the
volume is that high
but we have 700 people working on the
website
and phones etc to process those claims i
know people are frustrated
i get it but we have never seen
a volume like this in any state agency
something that you would everyone at
other hospitals
that is not my area of expertise
so i'll leave it to them thank you
i don't know on the testing with the two
assembly members