New York Gov. Cuomo holds a briefing on the coronavirus outbreak - 5/6/2020
Table of Contents
- Then went now runs north well a health system which is the largest hospital...
- Democratic position Republican position this virus kills Democrats Republicans...
- You have a significant number of people getting infected and there's now a meat...
- It yes we have to do this for Kovac but we're not going to go through all of...
- Working with the local officials what businesses do we reopen and the analysis...
- Careful if you just with somebody who came from Italy be careful they may have...
00:00
then went now runs north well a health
system which is the largest hospital
system health system in the state and
he's been extraordinarily helpful here
in dealing with this virus and he's
gonna be even more helpful as we go
forward so it's a pleasure to be with
him to my right Melissa the rosa
secretary to the governor and to her
right dr. Howard Zucker who you all know
who's our commissioner of health who's
been doing a great job pleasure to be
here today this is one of the most
00:31
challenging times that this state has
faced in modern history challenging time
all across the nation a lot of questions
a lot of anxiety a lot of opinions out
there everybody has an opinion everybody
has a watch the news talk to people
everyone has an opinion on what we
should be doing
everyone has thoughts that they want to
share one of the things that makes me
01:01
frustrating for my team as I say that's
I'm interested in your opinion I'm
interested in your thoughts but let's
start with facts first
right and then once we agree on facts
then we can get to opinions and thoughts
and beliefs but let's start with facts
and that's what I've been doing for the
people of the state of New York let me
give you facts our total hospitalization
rate is down again you see this curve we
01:32
talked about it on the way up which was
a painful journey we talked about it at
the quote-unquote apex which turned into
more of a plateau of flattening and now
we're seeing it gradually decline we
would have liked to see a steeper faster
decline but this is where we are and
it's a painfully slow decline but it's
better than the the numbers going the
other way you see it on total
hospitalizations you see it on
intubations
and you see it also in the number of new
02:05
cases per day this is important because
while we're seeing that hospitalization
rate go down
and you see the number of new cases
going down those number of new cases are
still problematic right so it means 600
new cases yesterday with everything
we've done we still have 600 new cases
yesterday either walking in the door to
hospitals or people who are in hospitals
who were then diagnosed with Kovac but
02:35
that number is also going down one of
the most stubborn situations and the
most distressing are the number of
deaths and that is down from where we
were but it's still 232 yesterday which
is an unimaginable and painful reality
that we have to deal with and when
people talk about how good things are
going and the decline and the progress
03:05
that's all true it's also true that 232
people were lost yesterday and that's
232 families that are suffering today
also a caution and the number of deaths
I know the reporters and everyone likes
to trace these numbers and document
these numbers I think we're going to
find when all is said and done that the
numbers are much different than we
actually thought they were the amount of
03:36
information that is now coming out that
changes what we believed or what we were
told happens almost on a daily basis
this was a virus virus that started in
China
now last week the CDC says oh it didn't
come from China it actually came from
Europe to the East Coast that's how it
got to New York and that's how it got to
Chicago etc that by the time we turned
off travel from China the China travel
04:06
ban the virus was already gone and it
was in Europe and then it came here from
Europe and we didn't know at the time so
February March flights were landing
people coming from Italy from the UK etc
they were bringing the virus we didn't
know they're now saying that the virus
may
not have come just in february/march the
virus may have come late last year
they're doing testing in Chicago now on
people who passed last November and
04:37
December to see if they passed from the
kovat virus so I think this is all going
to change over time so a note of caution
and I think it's going to be worse when
the final numbers are tallied we're also
not fully documented all the at-home
deaths that may be attributable to coal
pit so I think that the reality is going
to be actually worse but there's no
doubt it's a time of unprecedented
anxiety stress people want answers
05:08
people want answers now haven't had a
paycheck they don't know where their job
is they don't know if they're going back
to work where they're going back to work
when they're going back to work and they
want answers now and I understand that
fully but before we look for answers
let's make sure we're all understanding
the same question right and the question
here is not do we open or reopen the
society when do we reopen it we have to
05:40
reopen the society asking when do you
start breathing you have to breathe
right the economy must function people
need incomes the economy has to work
state needs revenues people have to be
able to live their lives you have to be
able to get out of the house you have to
be able to see friends you have to be
able to see family so it's not a
question of do we reopen it's a question
of how we reopen that's really the
question that we have to grapple with
and that we're dealing with in New York
06:12
our position in New York is the answer
to the question how do we reopen is by
following facts and data as opposed to
emotion and politics right everyone has
emotion I want to go back to work today
I'm gonna go see my family today I want
to be able to go to a bar and have a
couple of drinks and socialize with my
friends today I do by the way but it's
about emotion it's not about political
position on reopening there's no
06:45
Democratic position Republican position
this virus kills Democrats Republicans
there's no politics to this deal with
facts and deal with data and use that to
instruct you even more important at a
time of high emotion understand the
emotion appreciate the emotion but deal
on the facts and the data and you have
it you can calibrate by the number of
hospitalizations the infection rate the
number of deaths the percentage of
07:16
hospital capacity the percentage that
you're finding an antibody test the
percentage of finding on diagnostic
tests positive negative you're
collecting tracing data make your
decisions based on the information and
the data that's what we're saying in New
York that that actually works and by the
way we know it works when you look
there's a chart today that was published
by the New York Times you look at what's
happening in New York yes our our line
07:48
is going down our number of cases is
going down we have turned the corner and
we're on the decline
you take New York out of the national
numbers the numbers for the rest of the
nation are going up they are going up to
me that vindicates what we're doing here
in New York which says follow the
science follow the data put the politics
08:18
aside and the emotion aside what we're
doing here shows results the
hospitalization rate is down the number
of deaths is down and the number of new
cases is down for me I've been focusing
on this number of new cases that's where
our health professionals are focused why
because with everything we've done close
schools close businesses everybody
shelter at home all the precautions
about wear a mask wear gloves etc you
still have
08:49
600 new cases that walked in the door
yesterday week before that we still
still saw 1,000 new cases every day
where are those new cases still coming
from because we've done everything we
can to close down
how are you still generating 600 new
cases every day where are they coming
from again let's look at the facts let's
look at the data let's understand and
see what we can do so what we've done
over the past few days is we ask
09:20
hospitals look at just those new cases
who are coming in right
yesterday 600 new cases where are those
people coming from and what can we learn
from those people to further target and
refine our strategy when you look at
where they're coming from they're
primarily coming from downstate New York
which is not surprising basically
equally distributed Long Island is is 18
percent so that's a number that jumps
09:54
out at you Rockland and Westchester
which is where we did have a problem
that's down to 11 percent when you look
at the racial breakdown of who's getting
hospitalized you see is
disproportionately minorities
disproportionately african-american and
Latino again in downstate New York
higher percentage male 52 48 we don't
know exactly why but the virus doesn't
discriminate generally and a very high
10:25
percentage comorbidities which is what
we've been talking about in which we
understand which is not a surprise this
is a surprise overwhelmingly the people
were at home where there's been a lot of
speculation about this a lot of people
again had opinions a lot of people have
been arguing where they come from and
where we should be focusing but if you
notice 18 percent of the people came
from nursing homes less than 1 percent
came from jail or prison 2 percent came
10:56
from the homeless population 2 percent
from other congregate facilities but 66
percent of the people were at
which is shocking to us
disproportionately older but by the way
older starts at 51 years old I'm a
little sensitive on this point but if
older starts at 51 years old then that's
a large number of us old folk in this in
11:29
this state in in this country so that
whole vulnerable population being old
well old is now 51 and up so think about
that sixty to seventy twenty percent
seventy to eighty nineteen percent but
fifty-one years old is old okay and I am
very old transportation method we
thought maybe they were taking public
transportation and we've taken special
12:02
precautions on public transportation but
actually no because these people were
literally at home two percent took our
services nine percent was driving their
own vehicle only four percent were
taking public transportation two percent
were walking eighty four percent were at
home literally were they working no they
were retired or they were unemployed
only seventeen percent working so that
12:33
says they're not working they're not
traveling the predominantly downstate
predominantly minority predominantly
older predominantly non-essential
employees and that's important we were
thinking that maybe we were going to
fire find a higher percentage of
essential employees who were getting
sick because they were going to work
that these may be nurses doctors transit
workers that's not the case and they
were predominantly at home so now that's
only three days that's just about a
13:04
hundred hospitals 1,000 people but it
reinforces what we've been saying which
is much of this comes down to what you
do to protect yourself everything is
closed
government has done everything it could
Society has done everything it could now
it's up to you are you wearing the mask
are you doing the hand sanitizer if you
have younger people who are visiting you
and may be out there and maybe less
diligent with the social distancing are
13:35
you staying away from older people over
there starting at 51 by the way and but
it comes down to personal behavior this
is not a group that we can target with
this information it's really about
personal behavior
another issue that we're looking at and
we're trying to understand what is
happening in these hotspot clusters that
you see popping up you see it happening
across the country in meat plants where
14:08
you have a significant number of people
getting infected and there's now a meat
shortage in the nation well we have a
hot spot in New York State we have a hot
spot in upstate New York Madison Oneida
counties and it's around an agricultural
business but it's not a meat processing
plant it's actually a greenhouse farm
and we have dozens of cases coming from
the employees in this situation so what
does that tell you well it's not really
about meat or vegetables right there's
14:40
nothing about the fact that it was a
meat processing plant because we have a
vegetable processing plant
it is about worker density and large
gatherings
that's the caution flag here that's an
the message it's not about poultry it's
not about me it's not about vegetables
it's when you run a facility with a
large number of workers in a dense
environment and we learn that already in
New York when we had the New Rochelle
15:12
hot spot which was the first hot spot in
the nation New Rochelle Westchester and
the lesson was one or two people
infected who go to a large gathering or
a dense gathering that virus just takes
off
on you and we learned that in New
Rochelle they're learning it again in
meat processing plants and poultry
processing plants across the nation and
we just went through it again in and
we're going through it now and Madison
15:44
and Oneida County so that's something
that we have to watch and keep in mind
also at the same time that we're going
through this reopening exercise I want
to make sure we don't miss the
opportunity in the moment and the
opportunity in the moment is that we
went all through this let's learn the
lessons and let's take this moment in
history to actually improve from where
we are and to build back better I want
to set the bar high and set the goal of
16:15
not just replacing what we did okay
everybody go back to where we were I
don't want to say that we spent all this
time all this pain all this suffering
lost all these deaths only we'll go back
to where we were go back to a better
place how do you take how do you find
the silver lining in this viral storm
and actually improve your situation
we're on Long Island we went through
superstorm sandy was horrendous
16:46
thousands of people displaced but we
learned and we built back better Long
Island is better for having gone through
hurricane sandy well how can you say
that because it's a fact we learned we
improved from a horrendous situation
well how do we do that here and that's
part of what we want to do you know
people talk about making changes in
society change is very hard to make
change is hard in your own personal life
right how many New Year's resolutions
17:20
did we make as a society that are still
in effect here in May right I was
supposed to lose five pounds I was
supposed to be running every day I was
supposed to never lose my temper forget
it but one week maybe 10 days for the
temper the but history does show that
people are ready for change
at certain moments and I believe this is
one of those moments like the superstorm
sandy like a 911 like we've seen after
17:51
natural disasters around the country
where people say I get it and I'm ready
to make changes and that's what we want
to do and that's what we talk about when
we sidled is not just about reopening
it's about rebuilding it's literally
about reimagining and moving the state
forward at this moment and we want to do
that how do we come up with a better
transportation system how do we have
more social equity in society a better
safety system better housing better
economy better education better health
care system and we need the best minds
18:22
available to take this moment to put
together with the best thinking that we
can find to make the best improvement
one of the lessons is in public health
and our hospital system we worked in an
impossible situation when this started
we were told that we may need 130,000
hospital beds for kovat that was the
initial projections we only have 50,000
18:54
hospital beds in the state how do you
get 50,000 hospital beds to a 130,000
capacity it was impossible and by the
way we don't really have a public health
system we have separate hospitals all
across the state but they don't really
function as one system they never really
work together on a day to day basis they
don't share patient load they don't
share PPE how do you do that and we
scrambled and we made it work but now
19:26
how do we institutionalize that and how
are we ready for the next kovat or the
next whatever it is how do we use
telemedicine better how do we better you
allocate our health resources how do we
harden the healthcare system but let's
take the lessons we just learned and
institutionalize it and we've asked
Michael Dowling to do that he was a big
part of the scramble that we went
through to make it work and northwell
was a leader it's the law
19:56
just and in my opinion the most
innovative but now how do we take that
and institutionalize it so we don't have
to go through this again so next time
something like this happens we can just
open a book and it says here's what we
do step a step B step C and we want to
thank Michael for his service with that
and he'll be working with dr. Zucker
from the Department of Health another
area is education we went to remote
learning overnight that's what happens
20:27
when you close the schools okay all the
students go home we're gonna go to
remote learning what is remote learning
and we weren't really ready for it we
had all talked about it thought about it
there was some but we were not really
prepared to do it we then had to do it
we implemented it and God bless the
teachers in this state they did a
phenomenal job and God bless parents who
had to figure out quickly how to use
computers and technology and zoom this
and zoom that but how do we really learn
those lessons and we went to Bill Gates
20:58
and he's going to work with us on
reimagining the education system and I
want to thank him very much how do you
create a testing and tracing system by
the way what is a testing and tracing
system right we never did this before
well we have to take thousands of kovat
tests antibody tests diagnostic
diagnostic tests and then we have to
trace have an army of tracers to do this
we're doing it for the first time ever
but how do we learn and institutionalize
21:28
it yes we have to do this for Kovac but
we're not going to go through all of
this trouble and then just forget it
this will happen again some people say
this virus comes back in the fall or the
winter or there'll be another health
emergency but michael bloomberg has
generously said that he would work with
us and uses philanthropy to develop that
testing and tracing and then on a larger
scale how do we really use new
technology in the economy of tomorrow
22:00
and that's the lesson that we're all
learning right work from home
telemedicine telogen it's all about
technology
and a better use of technology and
really incorporating the lessons into
that and the probably the best mind in
this country if not in this on the globe
to do this is I believe a true visionary
especially in the field of technology
and that's Eric Schmidt who was former
22:32
CEO of Google obviously and just saw a
future that no one else envisioned and
then developed a way to get there and
we've asked him to come work with us
to bring that kind of visionary aspect
to government and society let's look at
what we just went through let's
anticipate a future through that lens
and tell us how we can incorporate these
lessons and mr. Schmidt who has
tremendous demands on his talent and his
23:03
time has agreed to help us and had an
effort to do this Eric thank you so much
for doing this and thank you so much for
being with us well thank you Thank You
governor you have been doing an
incredible job for our state and frankly
for the nation and I'm really pleased to
help the first priorities of what we're
trying to do are focus on telehealth
remote learning and broadband we can
take this terrible disaster and
accelerate all of those in ways that
will make things much much better the
23:34
solutions that we have to come up with
have to help the people most in need
people are in different situations
throughout the state we need to consider
all of them and not pick one or the
other so the intent is to be very
inclusive and make this thing better we
need to look for solutions that can be
presented now and accelerated and use
technology to make things better my own
view is that these moments are a chance
to revisit things that are not getting
enough attention and we have systems
that need to be updating and need to be
reviewed my commitment is to make this
24:06
period this sort of awful period to be a
period as you described in Long Island
where New York State New York City
everyone comes out stronger the
public-private partnerships that are
possible with the intelligence of the
New Yorkers is extraordinary it needs to
be unleashed
we're great you are the person to help
us do that we are already where we're
all in we are New Yorkers so we're
aggressive about it and we're ambitious
about it and I think we get it Eric you
know we went through this period and we
24:38
realized that change is not only
imminent but it can actually be a friend
if done the right way and I hope that
when we look back on this time we talk
about all the pain or the suffering but
we also say it was a moment in time
where we came together and we brought a
creative aspect and an innovative aspect
and we work together in ways we never
did before and we made this place a
better place and I can't thank you
enough for doing it Eric thank you very
much I look forward to continuing the
25:08
conversation and working together
mr. Schmidt thank you yes thank you God
thank you that is exciting
last point today is National Nurses Day
as you know nobody knows better than New
Yorkers how our nurses really stepped up
with our health care professionals you
know when the pressure is on in our
lives you wind up seeing the best and
the worst in people
25:38
and heroes rise to the occasion and
that's what we saw here in the state of
New York our frontline health care
workers were just extraordinary
showing up every day working impossible
hours virus that nobody understood fear
of infection but they just kept rising
to the rising to the occasion and that's
why New York and the nation just loves
all our healthcare workers but our
nurses especially have done a phenomenal
26:10
job and we thank them from the bottom of
our hearts and JetBlue had a beautiful
idea of a way to say thank you which is
donating round-trip flights to 100,000
medical personnel and nurses to honor
their efforts isn't that a beautiful
thing 10,000 to New York medical
professionals Michael darling doesn't is
not eligible
for that situation but other than that
because we need him here in New York but
26:40
it's a nice way that JetBlue is saying
thank you and all of us will find our
own way to say thank you but I'm sure
every New Yorker joins me in saying
thank you thank you thank you from the
bottom of our heart and to all the
nurses who are here today god bless you
and thank you for getting us through
this and thank you for being New York
tough which is not just tough but smart
and disciplined and unified and loving
god bless you questions yes about
reopening so along the way you've
27:13
rubber-stamp some things that you could
say make common sense like golf courses
you know you were asked about drive-in
theaters you said hey that might be a
good idea so if a business owner right
now says I have a super creative way to
do this I can do it immediately and be
safe you talk about smart New Yorkers
intelligent Yorkers do you trust that
and you move forward with other things
yeah piecemeal yeah we have we have a
very detailed reopening plan with very
27:45
detailed steps I touch on it in what we
just talked about we look at different
regions in the state because there are
different situations in different
regions right New York City is different
than Long Island that's different than
the Adirondacks is different than
Buffalo New York and the numbers are
just dramatically different the way we
talk about in this nation states are in
different places in this state regions
are in different places that's how big
this stadium is how diverse it is so
28:14
there are specific factual data points
that each region has to assess our is
your infection rate going up or going
down your hospitalizations going up or
your your hospitalizations coming down
do you have healthcare capacity if god
forbid that infection rate takes off on
you do you have the hospital capacity to
deal with that do you have the ICU beds
to deal with it you have the PPE if yes
to those questions then in that region
28:47
working with the local officials what
businesses do we reopen and the analysis
there is businesses that are most
essential and pose the lowest risk
should go first construction jobs
because construction jobs especially
exterior construction jobs workers are
basically socially distanced by the
nature of the work and can wear masks
getting their construction industry up
and running again manufacturing in a
manufacturing setting where you can do
29:19
social distancing right the meet plants
are a caution flag the poultry plants
are a caution flag the agriculture farm
upstate is a caution flag not
manufacturing where you have density and
people three feet from each other on a
factory line because that's a problem
but manufacturing where you can socially
distance and then you can even go
business by business drive-in theater
where an employer says this is how I'm
going to operate it everybody stays in a
car nobody gets out of a car you can
29:50
make those decisions of both stores you
can say maybe a laundromat know is that
and we have the steps where you go
through the data because first of all
you want to make sure you have the you
want to make sure you have the virus on
the retreat right you want to make sure
you're not still seeing that virus like
fire through dry grass and we do have
the virus on retreat all across the
state different levels of retreat in
30:21
different parts of the state but it is
on retreat in all parts of this state
which is dramatically different than the
numbers for the nation which is worth
noting you have states that are opening
where you still are in the incline I
think that's a mistake do you think by
cutting the Advantage program you bear
some responsibility for New York City's
spike homeless we've increased funding
30:54
for homeless all across the board
local governments then decide what the
best programs
for that locality it's different than a
so different of Suffolk different in New
York City but we've increased funding
dramatically exponentially and so it's
not just a question of funding it's how
you use that funding and I've worked on
the homeless issue since I was in my 20s
first I ran our not-for-profit I was the
largest not-for-profit provider for
31:25
homeless families in the United States
then with the federal government I
worked on homeless programs all across
the country I've been in more homeless
shelters homeless programs than probably
any other elected official so it's it's
not just money it's you have to know
what you're doing and you have to have a
program that makes sense
[Music]
look the best we can do you still have
to run elections the court said we have
to run elections I don't think it's a
32:11
good idea to have people go standing on
line to vote you shouldn't say to a
person if you want to exercise your
civic duty you have to endanger your
public health and possibly endanger
others we've seen video of other
elections held across the country we
have people waiting on line six feet
apart to vote I mean that that made no
sense to me so to the extent we can do
absentee ballots and make that available
to everyone and mail them out to
everyone and make that easy I think that
32:43
is the best way if we have to also have
an election day with people show up on
Election Day my two cents to people is
please vote by absentee ballots so you
don't have to show up but then if they
have to show up they have to socially
distance etc
the county parks and elections are
prepared I understand that issue is
trying to ramp up too quickly and
haven't been able to handle all the
requests and sending out ballots at
times and counting ballots are you doing
33:18
anything to make sure that the boards of
Elections around the state are able to
handle what you are asking with - yeah
well we're working with all the local
boards of Elections I've not heard from
any Board of Election that says they
can't send out the ballots we told them
last week they have to we'll send out
pre-stamped forms that people can just
send right back and I haven't heard any
issues from any local boards of
Elections have you heard we're working
closely with the local County Board of
Elections as well as the heads of the
33:48
democratic and republican party to make
sure everyone has confidence and how the
elections are being held there's a very
real possibility that certain elections
won't be called on election night that
is a reality people should prepare for
because as you said the hope is the
majority of the people are gonna be
mailing in their absentee ballot and so
we want to make sure that the counting
process is done right and it's thorough
and that people continue to have
confidence and faith and democracy and
so that may mean that certain elections
are called
a couple of days afterwards to make sure
the counts are done properly in terms of
34:18
helping to support the county boards of
Elections one of the things we've
discussed internally if it's something
that they need is supplementing with the
National Guard and seeing if the
National Guard can step in and help
where we know that they meant that there
may be issues but it is something that
we're focused on and continuing to talk
to the county boards but on a consistent
basis tell me what happens with the
pandemic between now and November or not
answer the questions a lot more
34:53
contagious do you have any understanding
of whether people can be reinfected the
East Coast the west coast or even or
even within our region and whether the
antibody test is
okay you're not beyond my paygrade on
information so I'm going to refer the
question to dr. circle but just for what
I know and what I believe I said the
originally we were told the virus came
from China right and everything was
stopped the virus from China and China
35:28
travel ban CDC comes out last week and
says oh no it didn't come from China it
came it went from China to Europe and
then from Europe to New York which is a
dramatically different situation because
we were sitting here in New York
February March watching China and the
federal government came in and they were
all our airports screaming everybody
from China
nobody screamed people coming from
Europe and now it turns out there were
35:59
like two million people who came from
Europe during that time and they landed
at JFK they landed it in the werk
Airport someone to Chicago that's where
the flights go and then they just mixed
into society and then you have New York
which is one of the most dense
communities in the country and the virus
took off nobody said it was coming from
Europe right we people visitors from
Europe work walked right through the
airport nobody said two New Yorkers be
36:29
careful if you just with somebody who
came from Italy be careful they may have
the virus nobody said that so it was
totally new I can't speak to the East
Coast strain versus the West Coast reign
on the antibodies that was an initial
thought that if you had gotten the virus
and you had the antibodies that you
would be immune to another infection I
think that's now being questioned but
again you're beyond my paygrade Thank
37:02
You governor so what the CDC is doing
and and others are looking at is the
genetic fingerprinting of this virus to
try to figure out the differences
between whether it's those came from
China and from Italy and unfortunately
all the informations not
yet about how this has whether it's
mutated what's the difference of these
viruses and the severity of the virus as
to whether a one strain would be worse
than another regarding the antibody
issue as the government said initially
the feeling was that one has antibodies
37:34
they should be protected but we continue
to learn more about this virus every day
and that's one of the things we're going
to learn more about is the protection
from when you have antibodies and what
that means and also for how long that
protection would last if one is
protected from that so it is a great
question and it's hard to give you an
answer at this point right now because
there's still more research to do today
someone from Illinois that they think
the virus may have come last December or
38:05
November so they're looking at autopsy
reports to see if it should have been a
cause of death
last year which to me is just a wake-up
call that you know we think we know what
we know but nobody knows nobody knows I
mean look at all the revisions that are
now going on about all the facts that we
thought we knew January February March
does not seem close to meeting all the
necessary criteria even landing behind
38:40
the city on one key data point why is
that and along with that the contact
tracing seems to be a big challenge and
yesterday
you said that there's going to be this
software for the contact tracing system
isn't giving online for four weeks
what role does that play in yeah the one
of the new systems that we have to
develop here is everybody talks about
test trace isolate we have to do
thousands of tests by the way we've
39:13
already done one million tests in this
state this state is brought testing
online faster than any state in the
country and we now do more tests per
capita than any country on the globe in
New York so we've been very aggressive
and successful at bringing testing
online but we have to have testing in
every region Long Island New York City
upstate different regions upstate and
then an army of tracers you're talking
39:44
about thousands of tracers who take
every positive call up every positive
who did you go to dinner with who did
you whatever and then isolate those
people and you have that facilities to
isolate people who can't be isolated
some people can't be isolated at home so
that has to be in place in every region
we are working with regions to get that
up and running but you have to have you
have to have the virus on the decline
and then you have to have a way to
monitor that virus and that's testing
40:14
and tracing I don't know about the
counties software system I don't know if
Jim we spoke I spoke to the county
executive last night and that is one
issue that we're working with the county
on is the testing and tracing the other
piece that I think you refer to as the
gross hospitalizations new people coming
in the door which is a sort of concern
of new infections the data that the
governor mentioned today where are
people coming from what are their
demographic information who are they
will help isolate and target better for
40:47
people in regions to say here's a
hotspot zone to get that infection rate
down so this will help Long Island and
other regions target better where the
infections are coming from to lower that
overall infection rate which will help
in the reopening process as we go
forward and that's what Michael
Bloomberg is helping us with putting
together this tracing testing program
again it's never been done before on
this scale we have to do it now and then
we actually want to keep it
institutionalized because I don't
41:18
believe this is the last time that we're
going to go through this I think this is
part of the overall new normal you know
we're seeing storms we never saw before
we've seen changes in the environment
changes in weather patterns and I think
this is going to be it's the first real
public health emergency that we've had
on this scale but I would not believe
that this is the last time we go through
it so I think learn the lessons and
41:47
institutionalize the distancing not in
this city because we're on Long Island
here but in these let's call it in this
city in this city when you're on Long
Island the city is New York City
although there are many cities in the
state the social distancing is important
the enforcement of social distancing and
42:25
wearing a mask is left up to the local
governments and the local governments
have discretion and how to enforce it
and obviously it should be enforced
in a non-discriminatory non-selective
way but I think it's important that it
is important that people socially
distance it's not I think I know it's
important that people socially distance
I know it's important that people wear a
mask
I know masks are now even believed to be
more important by health care experts
42:57
than they initially were that they can
be more effective and it is so easy
relatively in the scope of things to
wear the mask
I mean look we're at north well look at
what the people here at north well just
went
for the past two months to save lives
and we're asking people wear a mask so
you don't spread the infection compared
to what people have gone through they
don't want to wear a mask no that's not
43:30
who we are it's not what we are we're
part of a society we understand we're
responsible one for another wear the
mask I don't even have a good looking
mask and I wear it I have this very
plain boring white ugly mask but with
this face it doesn't make a difference
thank you very much guys
[Music]
you
you
you