New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks inside the New York Stock Exchange after ringing the opening bell when the building opens for the first time since March, as the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID19) continues in the district from Manhattan in New York, May 26. 2020.
Lucas Jackson | Reuters
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo criticized other state leaders’ response to the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday, saying that some states that were quick to reopen their economies were playing politics.
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked Cuomo, a Democrat, about comments made by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who said the state’s quarantine of New Yorkers earlier this year “saved lives” and reduced the spread of the virus.
“I tell everyone to look at the numbers,” Cuomo said in response, referring to conservative states that see an increase in Covid-19 cases. “You played politics with this virus and lost. You told the people of this state, you said to the people of this country, the White House, ‘Don’t worry about it. Go about your business. This is all hyperbole. democrat “”
“Now you see 27 states with the numbers going up. You see the death projections going up. You see the economy going down,” Cuomo said. “It was never political. It was always science.”
The United States reported more new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday than on any previous day, according to an NBC News count. As of Tuesday, cases are growing 5% or more in 30 states across the country, including Florida, Arizona, Texas, Montana and Idaho, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. Coronavirus hospitalizations are also on the rise.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said that the outbreak of coronavirus in the Americas, which includes the United States, has not yet reached its “peak.”
The same day, Cuomo announced that travelers arriving in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut from Florida, Texas, and other states with high rates of Covid-19 infection will be subject to a 14-day quarantine and fines if they do not self-isolate.
“We work very hard to reduce the rate of viral transmission. We don’t want to see it increase because a lot of people come to this region and they can literally cause the infection,” Cuomo said at a news conference with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. “Because what happens in New York happens in New Jersey and happens in Connecticut.”
On Thursday, Cuomo also criticized comments made by some state leaders and President Donald Trump that reported cases are only increasing due to an increase in evidence.
“I don’t even know what that means mathematically,” he said. “Forget it. Your hospital beds are getting full. Do you know what that means when hospital beds get full? It means more people get sick.”
Cuomo said it is slated to announce later Thursday that the state now has the lowest hospitalization rate since the outbreak began in fewer than 1,000 people hospitalized.
“This is after three months of everyone working hard and doing the right thing and taking it seriously,” he said.
– CNBC’s Noah Higgins-Dunn contributed to this report.
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