NY Gov Cuomo channels Winston Churchill and warns re-opening the country too fast will end more lives
NEW York Governor Cuomo declared “this is not the end” of the coronavirus crisis as he cautioned against re-opening the country too quickly. Cuomo channeled Winston Churchill to warn against relaxing guidelines as the death rate in his state stabilized at a “horrific level”. “Now this is not the end. It is not even the […]
NEW York Governor Cuomo declared “this is not the end” of the coronavirus crisis as he cautioned against re-opening the country too quickly.
Cuomo channeled Winston Churchill to warn against relaxing guidelines as the death rate in his state stabilized at a “horrific level”.
“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning,” he said, quoting the late British prime minister.
Cuomo said the quote – which he also shared on his Twitter account minutes after signing off – is a “fair statement of where we are now.”
“This is the beginning phase we’re all trying to figure out, but it’s the end of that phase,” he explained.
Although case numbers are “stabilizing” in New York, they’re doing so at a “horrific” rate, Cuomo said, noting the 783 people who died from COVID-19 on Friday.
He recognized that New Yorkers are itching to get back to normal.
But he warned that reopening the economy too soon could result in more coronavirus deaths, saying: “The worst thing that can happen is that we make a misstep and we let our emotions get ahead of logic and facts, and we go through this all over again.”
As of Saturday, the virus has killed more than 7,844 people in New York – the epicenter of the virus – while more than 18,000 have died nationwide.
Reopening businesses is a “public health and economic” question, one that Cuomo said he’s unwilling to separate for the sake of precaution.
“Reopening is public health question and an economic question, and I’m unwilling to divorce the two,” he said.
“You can’t ask the people of this country to choose between lives lost and dollars gained, nobody is going to make that quid pro quo.”
Despite this being “one of the ugliest political periods” in recent memory, Cuomo praised the bipartisanship shown by all during the pandemic.
“The best thing we have done to date is that we have kept politics out of the discussion,” he said.
The native New Yorker made it clear he’s not running for political office and that he has “no political agenda” as the crisis continues to unfold.
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Cuomo called for more widely available and advanced coronavirus tests, including diagnostic and antibody testing, saying: “We have to get better at both, and we have to create a higher volume faster.”
After Mayor Bill de Blasio announced New York City schools will remain closed for the rest of the year, Cuomo said he won’t make a decision on reopening or keeping businesses closed.
“That’s the mayor’s opinion,” he quipped.
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