NEW YORK — Governor Andrew Cuomo had a message of hope Monday to New Yorkers: instead of thinking about reopening New York, let's think of how we can reimagine New York and make our state better after this crisis.
Cuomo urged New Yorkers to continue to practice social distancing despite the weather getting warmer and cabin fever impacting everyone.
Cuomo said the state needs to "watch the dial" and we need to keep the virus under control, at a rate of .9 to 1.2 until a medical treatment or vaccine for COVID-19cis created.
The Governor also encouraged local governments to stay coordinated with the state and to choose "professionalism over politics."
Cuomo said that New York will have the largest antibody testing coordinated thus far.
While individual states coordinate testing, labs within those states buy machines, lab kits and testing supplies from national manufacturers. Cuomo says that the federal government needs to step in and fix the supply chain issues.
The state forecasts that if the federal government doesn't provide funding, the state financial plan could see 20% cuts in funding to schools, local governments, and hospitals.
Cuomo also advocated in the press conference for federal hazard pay to frontline workers.
Of frontline workers, 41% are people of color. This includes 45% of public transit workers, 57% of building cleaning service workers, and 40% of healthcare workers being people of color.
People of color have been disproportionately become sick with COVID-19, and Cuomo says this is because they are on the frontlines.
Cuomo advocated that this, along with the fact that one third of frontline workers are members of a low-income households, is reason as to why frontline workers need hazard pay.
Cuomo also announced that New York State is launching a partnership with Ready Responders, local representatives, and NYS Attorney General Letitia James to expand healthcare and testing for public housing in New York City.
The state plans to deliver over 500,000 cloth masks, which is one mask for every person in public housing in New York City, and 10,000 gallons of hand sanitize to public housing in the city.
Over 20 hospitals in New York have administered hydroxychoroquine to COVID-19 patients, ran tests, and are sending the first set of preliminary results on the effectiveness of the drug to the FDA and CDC Monday.
New York State has stopped elective surgeries in all hospitals, and Cuomo says that the state is currently looking in to if it is safe enough to do elective surgeries again. Cuomo says the state plans to release a new policy Tuesday regarding regional guidance on elective surgeries.
The state's main concern with having elective surgeries is that if a peak happens when beds are filled with elective surgery patients, it will cause problems for areas dealing with a peak.
The state says they've been able to bring the backlog of unemployment claims from 275,000 to 43,000, and that people who have been waiting can expect to get payment soon.
State officials also say that the federal government has also streamlined pandemic unemployment insurance for gig workers and self-employed individuals.
As he got up to leave, Cuomo said that they hope to test more but it really depends on supply chains being fixed so that more tests become available.