positive information factual information
so people have to have a realistic basis
to act upon rather than listening to all
the hype that if you turn on cable TV
that you'll hear we have now been
testing around the clock as you know we
are aggressively testing following up
leads because we want to find as many
people who test positive so we can get
them out of circulation we have 21 new
cases that we found so a total of 76 in
the state of New York right now we have
11 in New York City 57 in Westchester
County 2 in Rockland County for in
Nassau County and 2 in Saratoga County
the two in Saratoga County are obviously
new the additional numbers are seven
additional in New York City from
yesterday and 23 additional in
Westchester the 23 cases in Westchester
are all related to the New Rochelle
situation 7 in New York City two people
got off a cruise ship five appear to be
community spread one of those people is
in a hospital in the Rockaways in
Saratoga the two one is a 57 year old
pharmacist one is a 52 year old woman
who was in contact with a positive
person from Pennsylvania at a conference
in Miami so as I said that 76 and that
brings the total for Westchester to 57
cases Westchester is an obvious problem
for us they talk about the contingent in
clusters and then the clusters tend to
infect more and more people so obviously
you want to pay special attention to
those situations I spoke with the county
executive
Westchester County George Latimer the
mayor of New Rochelle known Branson
congresswoman Nita Lowey I spoke with
Senate Leader Andrea stewart-cousins
about this and all the respect of Health
commissioners we already said that we
would close the sar school and the
Westchester day school and the
Westchester Torah
sar school they were supposed to close
until March 14th with this new
information we may need to reset that
quarantine period were checking out to
see if one of the new cases was in
proximity with people later than the
initial setting of the quarantine the
quarantine is 14 days from the last
possible exposure right so with these
new cases is there a possibility that
there was an additional later exposure
and that's what we're checking now so
there's a possibility that those
quarantine periods may be extended we're
also going to instruct that nursing home
senior living situations in that
immediate area of New Rochelle will
suspend outside visitors again the
nursing homes are the most problematic
setting for us with this disease so we
are hyper cautious about nursing homes
assisted living facilities senior
housing etc and we're now doing a census
of those types of facilities in this
immediate New Rochelle area to put that
position in place no outside visitors
voluntary quarantine there's been some
reports that people who are on voluntary
quarantine are not following the
voluntary quarantine when we say you are
on precautionary quarantine that is a
serious situation we are assuming that
you will act in
faith and that you will be following the
rules of voluntary quarantine people who
are on voluntary quarantine are issued
specific rules violating those rules is
first I think disrespectful to members
of the community
it doesn't honor your responsibility as
a citizen and you can be putting people
in danger so even though it's called
precautionary quarantine that is a
serious situation we expect you to
comply with it if you do not comply with
it and we know that people are not
complying with voluntary quarantine
there are other measures that we could
take so please respect the voluntary
quarantine order also price gouging
continues to be a problem I was the
former attorney general I brought these
cases I want businesses to be aware that
you could lose your license for price
gouging this is serious it's not just
price gouging it's price gouging in an
emergency situation where you are being
exploitive of the public and there are
specific legal provisions for price
gouging in an emergency situation I went
through with this during superstorm
sandy we have a customer hotline number
at one 800 695 lat
worth it to the store owner you can lose
your license and we are very serious
about this for the few dollars that
you're going to make during this
situation it's not worth your while the
State Police are doing an investigation
they will be thorough
I've asked local police departments to
also do investigations so please not
only again is it disrespectful
it's also illegal and you will be caught
as far as this fear-mongering with
selling of masks on eBay Facebook etc
we're also investigating those I did
cases as an attorney general where those
were tracked back to stolen property
I think eBay and Facebook should play a
more constructive role here let them
police their own sites
I understand freedom of the internet
freedom of the internet yeah but it's
not supposed to be selling stole stolen
products and I think eBay and Facebook
are basically on notice that when you
see these masks these are medical mask
masks where did they come from you know
the person did not manufacture these in
his or her basement they had to come
from somewhere so I would ask a BAE in
facebook without getting into a whole
philosophical argument about freedom of
the internet just act as good corporate
citizens and police your own websites
and what you're offering people a couple
of other points on the federal aid
I spoke to congresswoman Nita Lowey
today as I said yesterday I don't
believe the supplemental appropriation
bill provided enough funding for new
york new york i've been total
thirty-five million dollars we had
already appropriated forty million
dollars
we're probably spending at the rate of
about rough estimate thirty million
dollars per week right now that's
without taking into consideration
capital costs for purchasing of
equipment potential testing costs
reimbursement to local health
organizations so I told the
congresswoman just that thirty five
million
is nowhere near sufficient the
congresswoman also knows my general
feeling that New York has been getting
the short end of the stick from this
federal government from day one right
across the board they started with the
salt income tax they won't approve the
second Avenue subway next phase they
won't approve congestion pricing they
won't approve the AirTrain from
LaGuardia Airport they won't approve the
gateway tunnels coming from New Jersey
so and then they took this gratuitous
action of ending a Global Traveler
program to extort and exploit us into
actually providing access to the DMV
database because they want the
undocumented drivers so these were all
gratuitous acts and at one point enough
is enough
congresswoman Lowey has been phenomenal
I've known her for many years she worked
with my father actually before she's a
great advocate for New York she got us
the funding for the Tappan Zee Bridge
so she is she's very effective as a
legislator and I went through the
situation with her and she said this is
just a starting point and she will work
deliberately to make our case to the
federal government and if she gets a
chance in subsequent legislation or a
subsequent opportunity to amend this
legislation that she would take that
into consideration our relationship with
the CDC is also problematic on an
ongoing basis we have the capacity to
perform tests we have a sophisticated
state lab we have sophisticated
laboratories in our state we are not
reliant on CDC for doing the testing CDC
is a bottleneck for this nation in doing
the testing you go to CDC the tests have
to go back to Atlanta they have to do
the tests they then have
send it back I believe the CDC CDC was
caught flat-footed
I believe they're slow in their response
and I believe they're slowing down the
state we needed CDC approval for a lot
of these things so first we could only
use the CDC we could only send tests to
the CDC
we then implored them to allow the state
to do its own testing finally they
allowed the state to do its own testing
it became clear that we needed more
capacity than just the state tests
performed at a state laboratory so we
asked to allow us to contract with our
commercial laboratories that took a long
time to get that approval we now have
the approval for the outside laboratory
contracting the next hurdle is something
called automated testing which is done
by robotics and it's much faster so the
labs that we are now going to contract
with and we have several approved
northwell health which has a tremendous
laboratory facility and testing capacity
New York Presbyterian Memorial Sloan
Kettering University of Rochester
Medical Center Rossville Park and SUNY
Upstate Medical University we will be
contracting with them to do testing many
of them have automated testing available
but right now CDC does not allow the
automated testing so my position with
CDC is look it's one thing that you
don't do anything to help us but at
least don't handcuff us and that's where
we are right now so the next hurdle to
jump with CDC is to get them to allow us
to do automated testing if we get these
labs onboard we get automatic automated
testing we increase our testing capacity
exponentially and that is critical to
what we are talking about
at this particular time in this evolving
situation I have officially declared
done a declaration of emergency which
gives us certain powers we're going to
be doing purchasing and up hiring more
staff especially to help local housing
authorities that local health
departments that are very stressed you
know we've said to the local health
department's you have to do the
monitoring on the quarantine mandatory
quarantine somebody has to go knock on
the door once a day at random intervals
I have to make sure the person is there
even on the voluntary quarantine we want
electronic checks checking in so this is
labor-intensive SoBou we need the
staffing we need the purchasing under
the declaration of emergency we have a
more expedited purchasing and testing
protocol and we're going to be doing
that last point is always the most
important point what are we doing we are
testing aggressively especially along
suspected populations by following the
infection tree because we want to
identify people because we want to put
them in a position where they're not
going to infect anybody else we want to
find positives we're sending mixed
messages every time we do these numbers
because people say oh no more people
have it we say that's good news that we
know who the people are so now we can
put them in isolated situation and they
won't continue to infect people that is
the point of the exercise my friends is
to find these people so we're doing more
tests the more tests the better the more
positives you find the better because
then you can isolate them and you slow
spread that's been the focus the real
question if you're just living your life
okay so what happens if I get
coronavirus that's the question so what
happens if I get a coronavirus if you
get the coronavirus 80% of the people
will walk around and self resolved 20%
will be hospitalized the vulnerable
population senior citizens immune
compromised underlying illness we've
said that from day one
all the data backs that up even take our
situation seventy six cases in New York
ten people are hospitalized of the 76
ten people hospitalized over the 76
that's about 15% which is in line with
what we said about 20 percent will be
sick and may require hospitalization so
that is actually what we're seeing and
there's another piece of data from John
Hopkins which is so informative John
Hopkins has been doing just a tracking
right because the real question is what
has happened to the people who have
gotten the coronavirus this has been
going on for weeks now what's happened
to the people who have gotten the
coronavirus John Hopkins is tracking
just that this is what they found
102 thousand cases so far worldwide John
Hopkins is working with World Health
Organization etc 102 thousand cases
mortality rate 34 hundred cases 57,000
recovering 41,000 sick over the past two
and a half weeks listen to this
more people are recovering than are
getting infected okay
so it's exactly what we said no the
facts become if you get the coronavirus
80% walk-around self resolved 20% get
ill maybe hospitalized
senior citizens we have to be very
careful of that's why I am hyper course
hyper cautious nursing home senior
congregated facilities immune
compromised and of the 100,000 people
who have gone through this that's what
the numbers show so that's what happens
if you get it but we still want to do
everything we can to make sure you don't
get it and how do we do that contain
contain contain get a lead chase it down
get a lead chase it down find the
positive quarantine that's exactly what
we're doing and it's going very well
with that questions comments we have we
have conducted hundreds of tests I don't
have any more than that because see
we're also contracting them out now so
when you say state just so we're clear
state tests at wodsworth state is also
contracting out with these six
commercial laboratories we're just
starting but totality hundreds thousands
I would test as many people as you can
test because you want to know now
remember these are not random sample
tests it's not like we're going out and
saying we just want to get an idea of
what the random sample among the
population is this is four hundred
people were at a Bar Mitzvah with
several people who tested positive tests
all four hundred this is a
child who tested positive went to a
school and was in a classroom and then
went to another classroom and then went
to a hockey game test both classrooms
and test the hockey team the more you
test the better
what are you limited by testing capacity
now the CDC was not helpful here because
the CDC said which I think caused more
anxiety and it's anxiety we're dealing
with now
CDC says if you want to test go get a
test and tell your doctor you want a
test and it's up you up to your doctor
that was the message the reported
message of the CDC at the same time the
vice president says oh by the way we
don't have the capacity to do the tests
well now you created a real problem you
invited people into the house and you
can't serve them you said to people come
in get a test all that has to happen as
your doctor approves it by the way we
can't do the tests that's now
reverberating and making people very
nervous because we have a lot of people
calling saying I want the tests well we
can't really handle that amount of tests
right now and if you're not in a certain
protocol for the tests we can't get to
you yet well I heard the CDC said all I
had to do is go in and ask my doctor I
know but really if you listen to the
vice president he also said we don't
have the capacity that has caused
consternation anxiety and worse than the
virus you know it's worse than the virus
the anxiety and the fear and the
confusion so that was not helpful you
cannot invite more people for the test
then you have the capacity to test
sounds like common sense right
one plus one plus one still has to equal
three and that's what we're doing in New
York we have a protocol on
prioritization of tests that fits our
capacity as our capacity to test grows
we will expand our protocols for who can
get tested but the protocol for who can
get tested has to match the capacity the
number coming in to the pipeline has to
equate with the number going out of the
Bible my message would be if you are a
senior citizen or immune-compromised
I would think seriously about attending
a large gathering now I've said that to
my mother my mother is a elderly person
she doesn't know it or believe it or act
like it but she is I've said to her I
would not be going to large gatherings I
would be using hand sanitizer when
you're moving around the city she lives
in New York City but in terms of closing
any gatherings if that's going to happen
anywhere it's going to happen in New
Rochelle we have a situation in New
Rochelle you're seeing those numbers in
New Rochelle expand as you have seen in
other clusters around the country and
one becomes two becomes four becomes ten
becomes twelve and twelve people then go
out and twelve people touch two hundred
and two hundred touch four hundred and
four hundred touch eight hundred and
that's what we're now dealing with
that's where you start to come up with
no large gatherings etc we are closing
the schools in that community we have
closed the schools we may extend the
closing of those schools today we're
expanding it to precautions with nursing
homes senior care facilities etc if
there were any large gatherings imminent
which again I just spoke with the local
officials we don't have any large
gatherings imminent but if there were I
think we'd have to take a hard look as
to whether or not we would cancel them
we are it allows expedited purchasing
and expedited hiring which are the
things that we need now
well I needed to to spend the forty
million dollars forty million dollars a
budget appropriation that's how you pay
what you purchased the purchasing
requirements some of the purchasing
protocols are waived during an emergency
declaration timelines for an RFP etc
they are coming back they're not going
to land the airline doesn't want the
land at Stewart Airport the airline
wants to land at Kennedy Airport because
they have more personnel more services
at Kennedy Airport we said fine the
general parameter is if they can home
quarantine fine if they can't home
quarantine we'll have Sunni congregate
dorms for home quarantine do we have
anything new there there are 73 students
that were on the flight which is now on
its way back it's going it's going it
will be going towards staff hiring
equipment hire purchasing we're
purchasing swabs we're trying to
purchase masks we're trying to purchase
protective equipment we pay for the
tests you know those six private labs
that are doing the testing we will be
paying for that testing local housing
authorities need funding because they're
incurring overtime etc so it's things
like that we're still working that out
would you rate the public health risk
for New Yorkers we have a lot of frenzy
a lot of number a lot of activities and
then we have an underlying reality what
is the underlying reality what John
Hopkins says yes this is a very
contagious virus and it is contagious
it's easily transmitted but the bottom
line is okay so what happens if I get it
what happens if I get it today I don't
consider myself elderly that's the
caveat okay 80% self resolved 20%
hospitalization underlying illness if
you have an underlying respiratory
illness this could be very serious if
you have a compromised immune system
this could be very serious if you're
battling cancer or you're hiv-positive
this could be very serious if you
already have pneumonia this could be
very serious otherwise you will
basically have symptoms for two weeks
and you will recover don't let it become
overwhelmed and look at the numbers we
have the numbers look at the numbers of
people the rate of people who are being
hospitalized right you take well Johns
Hopkins doesn't say how many are
hospitalized but we have 76 people 10 in
hospitals 15 percent hospitalization
rate
in talking to a a person we are now
looking at telemedicine we're studying
with China did you know China China went
both ways they sort of we got caught
flat-footed when it started depending on
who you believe by the way but then they
turned the corner and they got very
aggressive about the handling of it very
aggressive with quarantine by the way
which the the post mortem is China's
aggressiveness with the quarantine was a
big reason they turned the numbers
around but telemedicine was part of that
mandatory quarantine staying home work
from home close schools close
restaurants food deliveries to the home
they were very quick and aggressive on
their implementation of quarantine
aspects they would say even if you look
at South Korea they would say the only
way to stop the spread is an aggressive
aggressive containment strategy and when
you look at New Rochelle look at the
increase in those numbers in New
Rochelle they are very high right this
is the since it started it has just
continued to increase dramatically well
if you had said they won every one in
New Rochelle you must stay in your home
it could have reduced the rate mandatory
quarantine for everyone now see that's
easier to do in China but it'd be highly
disruptive to the economy but there's no
doubt that massive quarantine is the
best way to slow the spread one quick
thing sorry I guess you want config on
the hotline there is actually a hotline
that if New Yorkers have questions about
previous travel or any symptoms they're
having it's eight eight eight three six
four 306 five how many testify how many
open tests how many open tests what do
we think we have ongoing testing in
Westchester it's it's there was one test
kit per person
you get sampled because sampled one
sampling kit you get sampled the sample
gets sent to the lab the lab runs the
test we need CDC this is a third
engagement with our federal colleagues
we needed CDC to authorize the state lab
they finally did we need to see CDC to
authorize the state lab to contract with
outside labs they finally did we now
need the CDC to authorize automated
testing which is robotic testing which
exponentially increases the number of
tests that you can do because you
they're not manual you don't have a
person manually adding the agents to the
test tube etc
well a cruise ship is a little bit of a
different situation because they are by
definition isolated they could only
spread to that universe on the cruise
ship but we are dealing with his people
who are walking around the community and
somebody's going into a hardware store
and then going into a restaurant and
then going to a place of business and in
office in that situation where you have
the potential that a person will be
contacting people who were not informed
and not wary of this situation that's a
much different situation from day one
that is really if you ask me what's this
all about on the bottom line what do we
have to worry about I've said to you
from day one we have to worry about
nursing homes they have been given
specific guidance specific protocols
position specific instructions to the
staff New Rochelle we're going to be
taking an added precaution no outside
visitors but that is the that is what I
worry about that's what keeps me up at
night we can get that for you and
believe me the nursing homes are well
aware of this you know and we've
discussed a number of things we'll say
no outside visitors to any nursing home
you know but that's tough too that means
a person in a nursing home their family
can't come their children can't come so
all of these things are balanced in a
trade-off
thank you