Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Outlines Additional Guidelines for When Regions Can Re-Open

 Let's give you an update on where we are today. The total number of hospitalizations is down. You see that curve coming down. You see that mountain that we went up. Now we're on the other side of the mountain. You start to see the shape of the mountain. Unfortunately the decline from the mountain is not as steep as the incline, right? And the big question for us in New York and every state across the nation has been how fast and how low does that decline go, right? How fast does the decline actually happen? And what is the lowest level that the decline will reach? Unfortunately you see that we were hoping for a quick up, plateau, at the top, which is what they talked about, but a fast decline. You see the decline is, again, not as steep as the incline. But it is a decline, and that's good news.

The net change in total hospitalizations is down, net change in intubations is down, and that's always good news. When a person is intubated, roughly 80 percent of the time, there's not a good outcome. So the fact that intubations is down is good news. And then the other end is how many new cases are coming in the door every day? How many new diagnoses in COVID cases? And that number is also declining. So not only are the number of people in hospitals coming down, but the number of new cases coming in the door is down. And that's good news because it had plateaued at about 900 statewide for a few days. But this number is down at 700, and that's a good number. 

This is the number that haunts me every day, and this number is not declining anywhere nearly as fast as we would like to see it decline. Still 226 New Yorkers who passed away. And so we don't become immune, we talk about these numbers. 226 families, right, that's 226 wives or brothers or sisters or children that are now suffering the loss of a loved one. So we remember them in our thoughts and our prayers. People are all talking about reopening, which we should be talking about. This is not a sustainable situation. Close down everything, close down the economy, lock yourself in the home.

You can do it for a short period of time but you can't do it forever. But, reopening is more difficult than the close down. The close down was relatively simple, right? You go into the basement, you throw the big power switch, and everything just goes down. Close the businesses. Stay at home. It was a blunt operation and when that was done all across the country, just stop everything now. When you go to restart, the reopening, now knowing what we know, it's more nuanced. You have to be more careful. And again, no one has done this before, and no one has been here before. So, first, start by learning the lessons that we did learn through this experience.

And second, let's be smart about what we do. And I get the emotion, and I get the impatience, and I get the anxiety. We all feel it. When I say the situation was unsustainable, it's unsustainable on many levels. It's unsustainable economically, it's unsustainable personally. A lot of anxiety is now all through our community. We see it in increased alcoholism, increased substance abuse, increased domestic violence. So this is a very, very difficult period, and people want to move on. Yes, but let's be smart about what we do and let's learn the lessons.

One of the lessons is, we have never been here before, and we didn't really know what was going on. CDC releases a report, end of last week, that says the virus was actually coming to the east coast from Europe. Everybody was looking at China for all those months. China was last November, December, the virus migrated from China while we were all staring at China, and went to Europe. And the strain that came to the United States came from Europe. We had people in the airports stopping people from China, testing people from China, the federal government did a lot of testing, a lot of screening, people getting off planes, from China. Yes, but meanwhile the people from Europe were walking right past them. And that's where the strain came from that was infecting this area. And that's what the CDC just learned last week, and this is going back to February, right? On one of the most studied topics ever.

Again, just learn the lessons of what happened. You now add that piece of information on the Europe trips, and then you see the number of flights that came from Europe during that time, where they landed, and now you - It explains why you've seen the outbreak in Chicago that you've seen, why you've seen the number of cases in New York because, yes, the flights were landing here, people were coming from Italy, and the UK, and from European countries, and nobody thought to screen them. Nobody was on guard. And you add that to the density of New York, especially in New York City and that virus just took off, okay. We didn't know. We didn't know. Now we do. We also can look back in history and look at that 1918 flu pandemic they talk about. The places that opened too soon saw that flu come right back. And by the way, that flu was not one wave. That was three waves: first wave, second wave, third wave. The second wave was worse than the first wave.

That is looking at other countries, and look at what has happened around the world. And then you talk to the experts who know, listen to what they're saying. Dr. Fauci, who I think is one of the best voices and minds on this, Dr. Fauci's been through this in different iterations. He was one of the pioneers on the HIV virus and AIDS. And he says we could be in for a bad fall and a bad winter. Could be. Why? Because he doesn't know. He's not sure but could be for a bad fall or bad winter.

Okay, so put all of this in the equation and then also acknowledge and actualize that the truth is that nobody knows what happens next, and when it happens. Well, how can that be that nobody knows? We're so sophisticated. We have so much intelligence. We have so many experts. This is the United States of America. How can it be that no one knows? Because no one knows. I speak to the best experts globally, globally, and nobody can tell you for sure. Now, experts, we look to experts, and we expect them to know, so we push them to know. "Answer the question. Tell me when. What's going to happen in September? What's going to happen in December?" Sometimes the answer is, "I don't know." Sometimes that's the honest answer.

So, reopening. Chart a course. With the best information you have, learning from the lessons you have, but be able to correct that course depending on what happens, which means, don't act emotionally. Don't act because "I feel this, I feel that." Because someone said, "Well other states are opening, so you must be able to open, if other states are opening." Forget the anecdotal, forget the atmospheric, forget the environmental, forget the emotional. Look at the data. Look at the measurements. Look at the science. Follow the facts. And that's what we've done here from day one. This is no gut instinct. This is look at the data, look at the science, look at the metrics. Move forward, measuring what you can and what you know, and then be prepared to adjust. "Well, I want specificity, I want to know for sure." You don't. But there's liberation in knowing that. So, let's do this intelligently, based on metrics, and we'll see what happens and we'll adjust to whatever happens. "Well, what does that mean on metrics?" You can measure this. And we have to measure this. You look at that percentage and the rate of hospitalizations, which we have, right? That's the chart that goes up and down. You watch that hospitalization rate, do your diagnostic testing so you know how many people are testing positive, and you can watch that rate going up or down or flat. Do the contact tracing, so after the testing, you follow up and you do that contact tracing. And you are then reducing the infection spread by isolating the positives. If you do those things, you will control the rate of transmission of the virus, which is everything.

Nobody says you're going to eliminate the virus in the short-term. Nobody. But you can control the rate of transmission, and if you can control the rate of transmission, you can control the rate of transmission from becoming an outbreak or an epidemic or overwhelming your public health system. That is the best you can do. So, control the rate of transmission to what they call 1.1 or less. 1.1 is every person infects 1.1 other people, more than one other person. If you're doing that, that is an outbreak. That means it's going to increase exponentially and it's going to be out of control. As long as your rate of transmission is manageable and low, then reopen your businesses and reopen the businesses in phases, so you're increasing that activity level while you're watching the rate of transmission. The rate of transmission goes up, stop the reopening, close the valve, close the valve right away. So, reopen businesses, do it in phases and watch that rate of transmission. It gets over 1.1, stop everything immediately. That's where the other countries wound up.

They started to reopen, they exceeded the 1.1. It became an outbreak again. They had to slow down. Rather than starting and stopping, you'd rather have a controlled start, so you don't have to stop, right? And that's what you learn from the other countries. You reopen too fast, then you have to stop, and nobody wants to have gone through all of this and then start just to stop again. Well, how does that happen?

First of all, it's not going to happen statewide. This state has different regions which are in much different situations than other regions in this state. And rather than wait for the whole state to be ready, reopen on a regional basis. If upstate has to wait for downstate to be ready, they're going to be waiting a long time. So, analyze the situation on a regional basis, okay? And you look at a region on four measures -- the number of new infections, your health care capacity. If the infections go too high you overwhelm your health system, now you're Italy with people on gurneys in a hallway because your hospital system can't handle it. Do your diagnostic testing so you're seeing how the infection is increasing or decreasing. And do the contact tracing, have that system in place so when you're testing, you find a positive, you trace the contacts from that positive person and you're isolating them to bring down the rate. And you do that on a regional basis. That system has to be in place for a regional basis.

How do you start? When can I start reopening? We look at guidelines from the CDC, which say a region has to have at least 14 days of decline in total hospitalizations and death on a three-day rolling average. So, you take a three-day average, you have to have 14 days of decline. You can't have more than 15 new total cases or five new deaths on a three-day rolling average. This is telling you that you're basically at a plateau level that you can actually start to reopen. Then you're watching the rate of infection and the spread of the infection, and the benchmark there is fewer than two new covid patients per 100,000 residents, right? It's based on your population to account for the variance in the different sizes of regions across the state. Then, anticipate, protect yourself from all possibilities. Well, what if we have a surge again? Never fill your hospitals to more than 70 percent capacity. Leave 30 percent in case you have a surge. Remember, this virus is tricky. The rate of infection -- a person who gets infected today shows up in the hospital ten days from today or two weeks from today. So, that infection rate goes up, you don't feel it for two weeks. There's a lag to it. You want to make sure you have 30 percent of the hospital beds available in case you have that surge. Also, learn the lessons from before. Every hospital has to have 90 days of PPE for that hospital, at the rate that they have been using it during COVID. We cannot have another mad scramble where nurses and doctors don't have gowns and masks, etcetera, because the hospitals don't have the necessary stockpile. So make sure every hospital has the stockpile.

On the testing, we have done really remarkable work on testing. One million New Yorkers have now been tested believe it or not and the CDC Coronavirus Task Force for the White House recommends that for a region to reopen, you have 30 tests for every 1,000 residents ready to go.

So what testing capacity do we need for a region to reopen? You have to be prepared to do 30 tests for every 1,000 residents. New York is doing more tests than any country in the state by far. New York is doing more tests than any country on the globe per capita. So we're way ahead in testing but it doesn't matter what we're doing statewide. To open a region, that region has to have a testing capacity of 30 per 1,000.

The National Guard has been doing a great job for us in putting together testing kits and distributing testing kits and we want to thank them very much but we have to have those tests and we have to have what they call tracers, contact tracers, in place and Mayor Bloomberg has been very helpful, former mayor of New York City, in putting together this tracing system.

Once that is all done then you can talk about reopening businesses. Well, which businesses do we open first? You open businesses first that are most essential and pose the lowest risk, okay? Most essential and the lowest risk. Phase one, we're talking about construction, manufacturing, and select retail with curbside pickup. They are the most essential with the lowest risk. Second phase, professional services, retail, administrative support, real estate. Third phase, restaurant, food services, accommodation. Fourth, arts, entertainment, recreation, education.

Remember, density is not your friend here. Large gatherings are not your friend. That's where the virus tends to spread. That's why those situations would be down at the end.

Then we need businesses to also reimagine how they're going to do business and get ready to protect their workforce, to change their physical environment to the extent they need to and to change their processes to make sure people can socially distance, people remain in a safe environment. And that's going to be up to businesses to come up with ways to reconfigure their workplace and their processes to make this work and that's business by business. Government can say these are the standards but a business is going to figure out how to do that.

When you look at this state, there are some regions that right now by the numbers pose a lower risk, some that pose a higher risk. We can tell you by region right now, of those criteria that we went through, which ones are in place for which region, so which ones have the right hospitalization, the right testing regimen, the right contact tracing regimen, and which ones still have work to do in those areas. And this is going to be region by region and each region has to put together the leaders in those respective areas who put together this system and monitored this system literally on a daily basis. So, they're getting all that input, all those specifics, all that data, and then day by day they're making a decision as to how to proceed with reopening based on the data. Based on the facts. That'll be a little different for every region in this state.

May 15th is when the statewide PAUSE order - P-A-U-S-E not P-A-W-S - the PAUSE order. The PAUSE order was stop all businesses, stay at home. That expires on May 15th. May 15th, regions can start to reopen and do their own analysis. But, these are the facts that they have to have in place to do it. Start now, don't wait until May 15th. Don't call me up on May 15th and say, "Well, the PAUSE order expired, I want to open." Because I'm going to ask you the questions I just presented. Do you have a healthcare system in place? Is your health system ready? Can your hospitals handle it? Do you have testing in place? Do you have tracing in place? Have you talked to the businesses about how they're going to reopen?

So, we have a couple of weeks, but this is what local leaders - this is what a community has to deal with to reopen safely and intelligently, in my opinion. This can't just be we want to get out of the house, we're going. No. Let's be smart, let's be intelligent, let's learn from the past, let's do it based on facts.

You know, we are at a different time and place. Government is fundamentally in a different position than it was just a couple of months ago. This is a situation where their competence and their ability can be the difference between life and death, literally. What the governments have done - federal, state, local - what we've done in this state has literally saved lives. We've reduced all the projected hospitalization rates dramatically. By about 100,000 New Yorkers.

100,000 fewer New Yorkers were hospitalized than they predicted. 100,000. Thank about that - if we had 100,000 people in our hospital system. First of all, our hospital system would've collapsed if the projections were true. If we didn't change those projections. We literally saved lives. How many of those 100,000 would've been hospitalized and would've died?

So, we've done great work at a tremendous cost and tremendous hardship, but we've done great work. We just have to remain vigilant and smart and competent going forward. And that's what New York tough means. New York tough means we're tough, but we're smart, we're disciplined, we're unified, and we are loving. It's the love of community and love of each other and respect for each other which is what has gotten us through this and will continue to.

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces Joint Multi-State Agreement to Develop Regional Supply Chain

  States Will Aggregate Demand for PPE, Medical Equipment and Testing on a Regional Basis

Regional Supply Chains Will Help Realize Better Pricing, Delivery and Reliability of PPE and Medical Equipment for States

Governor Cuomo: "The word neighbor has a different connotation. You don't normally think of surrounding states as neighbors. You think of the person next door as your neighbor but they are neighbors. They've acted as neighbors. I cannot tell you how supportive Governor Murphy in New Jersey and Governor Lamont in Connecticut and the other governors in our coalition have been. Literally where you can pick up a phone and I can say, I need help with masks. Do you have any extra masks? Do you have any extra gowns? That's how these states responded. It was a beautiful and generous way of operating that was an inspiration to me."

Governor Cuomo: "We're going to form a consortium with our seven Northeast partner states which buy about $5 billion worth of equipment and supplies. That will then increase our market power when we are buying and we will buy as a consortium, price as a consortium, for PPE equipment, ventilators, medical equipment, whatever we need to buy. When you put all those hospitals together, all that public health capacity together -- which will make us more competitive in the international marketplace -- I believe it will save taxpayers money. I also believe it will help us actually get the equipment because we have trouble still getting the equipment and just buying the equipment because these vendors on the other side they're are dealing with countries, they're dealing with the federal government - why should they do business with one state when they can do business with an entire country? So this consortium I think will help us to get the equipment and get it at a better price."

Amid Ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Delaying School Board Elections and Budget Votes Until June 9th Village Elections Until September 15th

All School Board Elections and Budget Votes Will Be Conducted by Mail

Local Special District and Village Elections Will Be Delayed Until September 15, 2020

  In an effort to keep New Yorkers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today issued an executive order delaying school board elections and budget votes statewide until June 9, 2020. The school board elections and budget votes will all be conducted by mail and all qualified voters will be sent an absentee ballot with return postage paid. The Executive Order also delays local special district and village elections until September 15, 2020.

"We've made great progress to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but we still don't know when this pandemic will end and we don't want to undo all the work we've already done to flatten the curve," Governor Cuomo said. "We don't want to put New Yorkers in a situation where they are possibly putting their health at risk, so we are delaying school board elections and conducting them by mail and delaying all local special district and village elections to help limit any unnecessary exposure to this virus among both voters and poll workers."

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Governor Cuomo has moved village special district and village elections back to September 15th not to infect or kill people during COVID-19. 

However while Governor Cuomo cares about people in the small villages of New York State, he does not care about the people of New York City, and continues to have the election on June 23rd and not move it back to September 15th like other areas of New York State.

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Outlines Blueprint to Un-PAUSE New York

Blueprint Will Work to Control the Rate of Infection, Strengthen the Health Care System and Ramp Up Testing with Help from the Federal Government While Phasing an Economic Return to a "New Normal"

  Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today outlined a blueprint to un-pause New York, getting people back to work and easing social isolation without triggering renewed spread of the virus. The ultimate plan will be implemented in coordination with other states in the multi-state council.

1. Do No Harm - Step one is to continue controlling the rate of infection. This includes extending the NY Pause order until May 15th and implementing additional measures to reduce the rate of infection, including requiring masks in public when social distancing is not possible.
2. Strengthening the healthcare system - Step two is continuing the surge and flex strategy to ensure anyone who needs medical attention gets it, building out the strategic stockpile of PPE and other medical equipment, and sharing resources amongst states and localities.
3. Testing and Contact Tracing - The best tool to inform decisions and calibrate progress of any phased reopening of the economy is through both diagnostic and antibody testing. The states need the federal government to partner on this effort and bring it to the mass scale that is needed. With the help of an army of investigators, contact tracing needs to be done to help limit the virus spread.
4. Phased Return to "New Normal" -

• Evaluating Risk by Industry: The 'Un-Pause NY' approach is designed to open businesses in phases of priority. Businesses considered "more essential" with inherent low risks of infection in the workplace and to customers will be prioritized, followed by other businesses considered "less essential" or those that present a higher risk of infection spread. As the infection rate declines, the pace of reopening businesses will be increased.
• Precautions and Practices for businesses to consider to guide phased returnto "new normal":  
• Transport: Ensure employees have means for safe transport (i.e., masks, gloves for public transit) or require telecommuting/work from home.
• Workplace: Ensure workplaces are designed to include social distancing measures (i.e., desks six feet apart, conference rooms redesigned), telecommuting for those who can and the most vulnerable
• Customer Interaction: Ensure measures designed to ensure minimal contact with customers, ensure public-interacting employees have necessary protective supplies such as gloves, masks, etc.). Special precautions should be taken for businesses that primarily interact with the most vulnerable populations.
• Proactive Infection Plan: Ensure protocols in place should an employee develop COVID-19 symptoms or test positive (i.e. work from home plan)

"Now that we've shown we can flatten the curve and our efforts to control the spread of the virus are working, we must focus on a smart, effective plan to un-pause New York," Governor Cuomo said. "The first part of the plan is to do no harm - don't let that infection rate go up to the best of your ability and don't lose the progress that we have made. Second, now that we have some stability in our health care system after a weeks-long overdrive, we continue to strengthen that system and ramp up testing and contact tracing to identify those who are sick and isolate them so they don't transmit the virus to others. Then we can focus on phasing an economic return to the new normal - but we need all those activities going on at the same time for our plan to un-pause New York to work."

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Launches Multi-Platform, Multi-Language Education and Awareness Campaign to Reach All New Yorkers Across the State in All Zip Codes and Communities

Outreach to Wider Audience Will Emphasize State's Core Message to New Yorkers to Stay Home

Governor Launches Instagram Campaign, #IStayHomeFor, with Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez to Reach the Widest Audience Possible

Builds on Ongoing State Efforts to Reach All Communities in New York with the Life-Saving Stay Home Message

  Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today launched a multi-platform, multi-language education and awareness campaign to reach all New Yorkers across the state in all zip codes including hard-to-reach communities. The campaign will emphasize the state's core message to stay home and will expand outreach and awareness of this critical mandate to new and wider audiences. The Governor launched the Instagram campaign, #IStayHomeFor, with Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez to help reach the widest audience possible with the state's life-saving stay home message.

"This virus is truly vicious, and we all have an obligation to do what we can to protect each other and to protect the most vulnerable," Governor Cuomo said. "We will only be effective if social distancing is enforced and maintained. That's why we are using every tool at our disposable to reach everyone, everywhere in every way -- particularly communities we don't normally reach -- to reinforce the message to stay home and stop the spread, if not for ourselves, for the vulnerable people we love around us."

This builds on the state's ongoing efforts to reach all communities across the state with the message to stay home, including:

• "Go Paper" Campaign: In recognition of the fact that not all New Yorkers are on social media, the state has created the "Go Paper" campaign, which partners with delivery services including FreshDirect to print flyers - which encourage people to abide by social distancing protocols, wash their hands and stay home -- and attach them to local deliveries. Starting this week, FreshDirect will include the flyers in 100,000 deliveries a week. The state is reaching out to local businesses and asking them to include the flyer with all deliveries. The flyer is available in English and Spanish here.
• Nightly Newsletter: Launched on March 17th, this nightly email newsletter provides 190,000 subscribers with reliable facts and updates on New York State's response to coronavirus. Individuals can subscribe to receive the newsletter here.
• Leveraging Radio DJs: New York State is working with DJs at the state's most popular radio stations in key communities to raise awareness about the facts regarding the spread of coronavirus and to share key crucial social distancing messages to their listener audiences.
• LinkedIn: To engage with business-oriented thought-leaders, the Governor's team uses LinkedIn to highlight messages on sourcing personal protective equipment, the impact of the private sector during the pandemic and the importance of mental health.
• NY Hub on the Ad Council's PSA Portal: NYS has partnered with the Ad Council to create a NYS specific hub highlighting our Stay Home, Save Lives messaging in English and Spanish. Assets include :30 and :60 second TV spots and pre-roll, radio spots, social media posts, online banners and OOH signs and billboards. Assets can be downloaded here.
• New York State Department of Health Preparedness Messaging:  To ensure New York's diverse and multi-lingual communities are receiving critical information to prevent the spread of COVID-19, The Department produced a series of public service announcements featuring Health Commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker. Those ads are currently airing in English on broadcast, cable and streaming video services with subtitles in Spanish, Chinese and Korean.  Public service announcements are also airing on streaming and broadcast radio, and print ads have been developed in multiple languages for placement in ethnic newspapers. DOH is also engaging in a digital advertising campaign targeted to reach all communities.
• Highway Signs and Billboards: Individuals driving on the road are reminded of the Governor's important "Stay Home, Save Lives" by digital signage on major roadways.
• Graphics Campaign - Save a Life-Put a Life in Danger: Data shows that social distancing is working. To reinforce social distancing practices, this graphic campaign features a side by side comparison of crowded versus empty New York spaces.
• Nextdoor: The Governor has launched a messaging program on the Nextdoor app to keep New Yorkers updated on important Coronavirus news including the extension of New York on PAUSE and social distancing practices.

Snapchat: New York State is working with Snap Inc. on filters that New Yorkers can use on Snapchat to spread the critical stay home message on its platform, which reaches 75 percent of all 13-34 year olds in the US. The filters will be launched this week and targeted specifically in New York. Governor Cuomo also recently launched his own Snapchat account — nygov — as a strategic way to reach young people across the state and provide critical updates.

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces NYS on Pause Functions Extended for Additional Two Weeks

  Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced all NYS on Pause functions will be extended for an additional two weeks. The Governor also directed schools and nonessential businesses to stay closed for an additional two weeks through April 29th. The state will re-evaluate after this additional two-week period.

Governor Cuomo also announced the state is increasing the maximum fine for violations of the state's social distancing protocol from $500 to $1,000 to help address the lack of adherence to social distancing protocols. The Governor reminded localities that they have the authority to enforce the protocols.

The Governor today is asking the federal government to allow the USNS Comfort hospital ship to be used for COVID-19 patients. President Trump has already granted the Governor's request for the Javits temporary hospital facility to be used for only COVID-19 positive patients, and the addition of the USNS Comfort would help relieve pressure on the state's hospital system with an addition of 1,000 beds for COVID-19 patients.

The Governor also announced that 802 ventilators have been distributed downstate through the state's "surge and flex" system where all hospital systems are working together as one and sharing supplies, equipment and staff. Of the 802 ventilators, 38 were deployed to Rockland County, 36 were deployed to Westchester County, 505 were deployed to New York City and 223 were deployed to Long Island.

Governor Cuomo also announced the creation of the First Responders Fund to assist COVID-19 health care workers and first responders with expenses and costs, including child care. The State Department of Health is accepting donations for the fund, and Blackstone is making an anchor $10 million contribution to the fund. Donations can be made electronically at https://www.healthresearch.org/donation-form/ or by check sent to below address. Donors should specify the donation is for "COVID-19 NYS Emergency Response."

Health Research, Inc.

150 Broadway

Suite 560

Menands, NY 12204

The Governor also announced that the state is partnering with Headspace, a global leader in mindfulness and meditation, to offer free meditation and mindfulness content for all New Yorkers as a mental health resource for residents coping with the unprecedented public health crisis. New Yorkers can access a collection of science-backed, evidence-based guided meditations, along with at-home mindful workouts, sleep and kids content to help address rising stress and anxiety at www.headspace.com/ny.

The Governor also announced that the South Beach Psychiatric Center in Staten Island and the Brooklyn Center Temporary Hospital at 170 Buffalo Avenue will open this week and will be used specifically for COVID-19 patients.

"This virus is an enemy that the entire country underestimated from day one and we have paid the price dearly," Governor Cuomo said. "While the numbers look like they may be turning, now is not the time to be lax with social distancing - that would be a mistake and we all have a responsibility and a societal role in this. As I said from day one, I am not going to choose between public health and economic activity, and to that end I am extending all NYS on Pause functions for an additional two weeks. People are dying and our health care workers are exposing themselves to tremendous risk every day. If we can't convince you to show discipline for yourself in terms of social distancing, show discipline for other people."

Finally, the Governor confirmed 8,658 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 130,689 confirmed cases in New York State.

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces 1,000 Ventilators Donated to New York State

  Let's go through some numbers. The increase continues. We're up to 10,482 cases. 23,000 people were tested yesterday, that's the highest number of testing we've ever done. That's good news. 283,000 total tested. Number of new cases, 10,841. New high. Total hospitalizations, 15,000 people currently hospitalized, 4,000 ICU patients. 10,000 patients discharged, right. That's the good news. Number of deaths, all-time increase up to 3,500, 6,500. Most impacted states, you see New York at the top again. New Jersey has a serious problem in New Jersey and a growing problem. Then Michigan, then California, then Massachusetts. Total number of hospitalized is down a blip, but we believe that's not statistically meaningful. You have the number of ICU cases are up. The number of intubations are up.

The number of discharges are also up. And this is interesting, two thirds of the people who have been hospitalized have been discharged. Okay? Two thirds of the people who have been hospitalized have been discharged. That's what we've been saying all along. Most people won't be hospitalized. People who are hospitalized will come in, be treated, and leave. That's two thirds. One third of that number has a serious condition which will require continued hospitalization. We're tracking the growth of the number of infections by hospital, and we can see just where the numbers are increasing.

We've been talking about hitting the apex. The apex is the point where the number of infections on a daily basis is at the high point, and that is the ultimate challenge for the healthcare system. Can we handle that number of cases at the high point of the curve? I call it the battle of the mountaintop because that's what it's going to be. That's going to be the number one point of engagement of the enemy. By the numbers we're not at the apex. We're getting closer, depending on whose model you'll look at. They'll say four, five, six, seven days. Some people go out 14 days. But our reading of the projections is we're somewhere in the seven-day range, four, five, six seven, eight day range. Nobody can give you a specific number, which makes it very frustrating to plan when they can't give you a specific number or a specific date, but we're in that range. So we're not yet at the apex. Part of me would like to be at the apex and just let's do it, but there's part of me says it's good that we're not at the apex, because we're not yet ready for the apex, either. We're not yet ready for the high point. We're still working on the capacity of the system. The more time we have to improve the capacity of the system is better, and the capacity of the health care system, beds, staff, equipment. We'll be doing a conference call with all the hospitals today to coordinate deployment of the equipment.

Watching the spread of the rate of infections is interesting. This chart is what we've been talking about, but you can see it here. The upstate number is the top bar. The rest of New York has been fairly constant, 4%, 5%, 4%, 5%, Westchester, Rockland 8%, 6%, 6%, 7%, 7, 7. Long Island is the area that is growing. You see Long Island goes from 16% to 17% to 18%, to 19 to 20 to 22%. New York City is actually dropping as the number of cases in Long Island increases, as a percentage of cases within the state. For us, this is about tracking the virus, tracking the spread of the virus, and then deploying as the numbers suggest.

In terms of beds, the 2,500-ed facility at Javits is going to make a major difference. That has to work. The White House agreed to make that a COVID-positive facility. Remember, originally the Javits Center, which is a state convention center, we worked with the federal government, they constructed a 2500-bed facility, it was supposed to be non-COVID. I spoke to the president, transferred that with his intervention to a COVID facility. The federal government will staff that and the federal government with equip that. That is a big deal because that 2,500-bed facility will relieve a lot of pressure on the downstate system as a significant number of beds and that facility has to make that transition quickly and that's what we're focused on. It's going to be very staff intensive, very equipment intensive but the theory there is the best we can to relieve the entire hospital system downstate by bringing those COVID patients to Javits and from the intake to the treatment and it's going to be very difficult to run that large a facility. But if that works and that works well that changes the numbers dramatically so that's a top focus for us. I spoke to the White House today on planning the logistical operation to get that up and get that running asap, and that's the top operational priority.

In terms of staffing, we have 85,000 volunteers, 22,000 out-of-state volunteers. How amazing is that? 85,000 volunteers. I'm also signing an executive order to allow medical students who are slated to graduate to begin practicing. We need doctors, we need nurses, so we're going to expedite that.

On ventilators, remember, we ordered 17,000 ventilators. To give you an idea of how many 17,000 is, the federal stockpile was about 10,000 ventilators for the nation. We ordered 17,000 just for the state of New York. When we ordered the ventilators we were paying for the ventilators. So, trust me, you know the financial situation of the state. We were not looking to spend a penny that we didn't have to spend. We placed that order for the ventilators and we were paying for that order. That order never came through. This goes back to the China situation. We had signed documents, we placed the order,Governor Baker talks about this in Massachusetts. But then you get a call that says we can't fill that order because you had all that demand going in. So, what do we do? We find what equipment we have, we use it the best we can. If you ask hospitals today what ventilators do you have that are unused and available that they don't need in the short term and take 20% of that number of available ventilators, that's 500 ventilators. 500 ventilators is a significant number now. China is remarkably the repository for all of these orders. Ventilators, PPE, it all goes back to China. Long term, we have to figure out why we wound up in this situation where we don't have the manufacturing capacity in this country. I understand supply chain issues, I understand the cost of manufacturing, but there's a public health reason, as we've all learned the hard way, why we need the capacity in this country to do this.

Anyway, it all comes back to China. New York has been shopping in China. We're not really China experts, here. International relations is not what we do on a daily basis. I've been to China before when I was HUD secretary, I did a trade mission with China. So, I have a basic understanding, but we went to the Asia Society to help us navigate China. I asked the White House to help us navigate China. I spoke to the ambassador and we got really good news today. That the Chinese government is going to facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will come in to JFK today. I want to thank Joe Tsai and Clara Tsai and Jack Ma from Alibaba, and the Nets, but I'm not stating a preference, for their donation. That's going to be very helpful and I want to thank Ambassador Huang very much for his help in making all of this happen because this is a big deal. It's going to make a significant difference for us.

Also, the state of Oregon contacted us and is going to send 140 ventilators, which is, I tell you, just astonishing and unexpected. I want to thank Governor Brown, I want to thank all of the people in the state of Oregon for their thoughtfulness. Again, this was unsolicited. But the 140 ventilators will make a difference. I was thinking about it, on behalf of New York and what it means for our - first it was a kind gesture. I know Governor Brown and she is a kind person, but it's also smart from the point of view of Oregon. Why? Because we're all in the same battle and the battle is stopping the spread of the virus, right? Look at what they did in China. It was in the Wuhan province. First order of business was contain the virus in Wuhan. Why? Because you want to contain the enemy. That's always the first step. Oregon, we're dealing with it now, we don't stop the spread in New York, it continues. And if you look at the projections, Oregon could have a significant problem towards May. Our problem is now. So it's also smart from Oregon's self-interest. They see the fire spreading. Stop the fire where it is before it gets to my home. That was the Wuhan province.

Somebody sent me a great quote from FDR, who had such a beautiful way of taking complicated issues and communicating it in common-sense language. FDR was dealing with trying to get the lend-lease program approved and accepted by the public. Why would this country help another country fight its war? That was the lend-lease program. His point was it's a common enemy. We want to contain the enemy. That other country's fight is actually our fight. If we don't stop the spread then it's going to burn down our own country. But this is how he does it, right? The concept is right, but how does he explain that? Suppose my neighbor's home catches fired and I have a length of fire hose 400, 500 feet away. If he can take my garden hose and connect it with his hydrant, I may help him put out his fire. Now what do I do? I don't say before that operation, neighbor, my garden hose cost me $15, you have to pay me $15 for it. What is the transaction that goes on? I don't want the $15. I want my garden hose back after the fire is over. All right, if it goes through the fire all right, intact without any damage to it, he gives it back to me, and thanks me very much for the use of it. But suppose it gets smashed up? Holes in it during the fire. We don't have to do too much formality about it. But I say to him, I was glad to lend you that hose. I see I can't use it anymore. It's all smashed up. He says how many feet of it were there? I tell him 150 feet of it. He says, alright, I will replace. Now, if I get a nice garden hose back I am in pretty good shape.

The State of Oregon has lent us 140 ventilators. It was kind, it was smart, stop the virus here. It's better for the state of Oregon, it's better for the nation. Their curve comes after ours. We'll return their 140 ventilators, and there's never been a discussion, but frankly I know New Yorkers and I know New Yorkers' generosity. We will turn it double fold, because that's who we are and that's what we believe. So, stop the fire in New York, kind, generous, also smart.

Personal opinion, look I want this to be all over. It's only gone on for 30 days since our first case. It feels like an entire lifetime. I think we all feel the same. This stresses this country, this state, in a way that nothing else has frankly, in my lifetime. It stresses us on every level. The economy is stressed, the social fabric is stressed, the social systems are stressed, transportation is stressed. It's right across the board, but the most difficult level is the human level. It is for me, anyway. It's every day, and it's everywhere. My brother catches the virus. That's stressful. My mother is worried about my brother, and she's concerned. We have a birthday party yesterday for Stephanie, was standing around a cake. 

Everybody's six feet from each other in this bizarre supposed to be just a fun usual celebration of a birthday. My daughter's cousin has a tragedy and that's just emotionally very painful. They can't hug each other and hold each other. They can't even grieve together. The cyberchats, I mean, this is so emotionally taxing that you can't even begin to -- you can't quantify the effect on society and the effect on individuals. And the burden that we're dealing with.

So, yes, I want it over. If there was anything I could do to accelerate getting it over, I would. In some ways I want to get to that apex, I want to get on the other side of the apex and let's just slide down that mountain. On the other hand, we have to be ready for the fight and we have to handle that fight. That's where we are. So, what do we do? You have to get through it. You have to get through it. There is no simple answer here. You're not going to wish this away. You have to get through it. You have to get through it intelligently, saving as many lives as you can. That's hard work, and that's perseverance, and that's mutuality and that's community, and that's finding your better self, and that's finding inner strength and dealing with a situation that is almost unmanageable on every level. Because you are out of control. This is a painful, disorienting experience, but we find our best self, our strongest self. This day will end and we will get through it and we will get to the other side of the mountain. And we will be the better for it. But we have to do what we have to do between now and then. That's just what we're doing here.

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces New Hospital Network Central Coordinating Team

  Let me go through where we are today on the numbers. Give these people an update. The number of cases still going up. We're all in search of the apex and the other side of the mountain. But we are still headed up the mountain. Number of people tested last night was a near record amount. We tested over 18,000 people. We're testing more people than any state in the country and I'm very proud of that. More per capita than China and South Korea.

Total number of people tested, 200,000. Population of 19 million, is not going to give you a random sample, but it's been helping us track down on the positive cases. Number of positive cases, 9,298. Total cases 75,000 cases. You see the predominance in New York City, then Westchester, then Nassau, then Suffolk, then Rockland. So you can see it's that area of density. It spreads out from that area of density. The march of coronavirus across the State of New York continues. We're down to just two counties that don't have a case. The overall numbers, 75,000 have tested positive. Ten thousand people in our hospitals, 2,700 ICU patients. Good news, 4,900 - almost 5,000 - discharged. That's up 771. So people come in, they get treated, they go home.

New York is at 75,000 cases. Next state is 16,000. California is at 7,000. So you can see New York, there's a magnitude of difference more than any other state. Fifteen-hundred fifty deaths. That's up from 1,218 yesterday. Again, we're studying the charts. We're trying to study the data, follow the data. The data is uneven. It bounces. Numbers often bounce in any model. There are variables in this model. The hospitals are reporting it, so what every hospital reported, were they busy, are they combining a couple of days in one? It's an imperfect reporting mechanism.

You see the basic line is still up. What the statisticians will tell you is you basically draw the straight line that columns indicate and you see that we're still going up which is what we see on the overall trajectory, that we're still going up. Number of intubations was down, not much, but it was down and that's a good sign. You also see the number of discharges going up and that's consistent. The longer people are in, they either get treated and leave or they get put on a ventilator and the longer you're on a ventilator, the less likelihood you will come off the ventilator. That is the blunt truth of this situation.

We have two missions overall that we are pursuing. One is the front line of this battle is our hospital system. That's where this is going to come down to. The second is social responsibility. Stay at home. Don't get infected in the first place. Don't get infected in the first place because it goes back to you're creating a burden on our health care system that our health care system cannot handle. We're talking about exceeding the capacity of our hospital system by some estimates, 2 times. So what does this come down to besides all the other issues? It comes down to not overwhelming the hospital system because those people who need acute care may not be able to get the acute care. So it's all about the hospital system. That is the front line.

What we're doing is we are following the mathematical projections of the experts. We're speaking to all the health care professionals, all the health care providers. World Health Organization, National Institute of Health, Dr. Fauci, CDC, FDA - the whole alphabet soup of health care experts and the mathematicians who then have different models. We talk about five different models and compared the models and tried to find the median through the models. That's how we plan everything. Follow the data, follow the science. People ask me, "What do you think, what do you think?" I don't think about this. What do I know? I'm not an expert. I'm not opining. I talk to experts and I follow people who know.

But for the hospitals procure equipment, identify the beds, support the staff, that's what it's been all about. Of those priorities number one is support the staff. They are the front line and they need relief. They are physically exhausted even more they are more emotionally exhausted. This is unlike any other disasters. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods - they happen, they are fast, they're over, you start rebuilding. This is different. This is ongoing and the duration itself is debilitating and exhausting and depressing. I'm speaking to healthcare professionals who say, "Look, more than physically tired I'm emotionally tired seeing the pain and death that they are dealing with every day."

In general, I am tired of being behind this virus. We've been behind this virus from day one. The virus was in China. We knew it was in China. Unless we assume there's some immune system variation with Asian people, it was coming here and we have been behind it from day one since it got here and we've been playing catch-up. You don't win playing catch-up. We have to get ahead of it. The second rule is never underestimate your opponent, and we underestimated this virus. It's more powerful, it's more dangerous than we expected, and the third point is plan forward. Get ahead of it. Get ahead of it, fight the fight today, yes, but anticipate the next battle and plan for the next battle.

And the main battle is at the apex. We're still going up the mountain. The main battle is on the top of the mountain. That's where the main battle is going to be. The apex of the curve and then we come down the other side of the mountain. We are planning now for the battle at the top of the mountain. That's what we are doing. Get a staffing plan ready now for the battle at the top of the mountain. Equipment stockpile now - we're gathering equipment that we don't need today because today is not the day of the battle. The battle is when we hit the apex, depending on who you believe, 14 days to 30 days from today.

And also we need a social acceptance of the time expectation. We're all anxious. We're all tired, we're all fatigued. It's been all bad news for a long time. Our whole lifestyle has been disrupted. Everybody knows wants to know one thing, when is it over, nobody knows. Well, President said by Easter; this one said by this - nobody knows. You can have a hypothesis, you can have a projection, you can have an opinion but nobody knows, but I can say this, it is not going to be soon. If our apex is 14 to 21 days, that's our apex. You then have to come down the other side of the mountain once you hit the apex, so calibrate yourself and your expectations so you're not disappointed every morning you get up.

Yesterday we met with the entire state hospital system, Dr. Zucker and our team - first time they were all in one place. And we said to the hospital system, "Look," what I just said to you, "We are dealing with a war, we are dealing with war we've never dealt with before. We need a totally different mindset. We can't do business the way we have always done business - we need unprecedented sense of cooperation, flexibility, communication and speed." And that's what we talked through yesterday, and we have to do it now. The healthcare system is one of those balkanized systems - it's like our state education system, it's like our criminal justice system. It's in place. It's fragmented. They have their own identities, their own associations, it's regionally organized. That all has to change.

We don't have the ability to meet the capacity of our healthcare system as an entirety. That assumes the healthcare system is working as an entirety. That's not how the healthcare system is organized now. We have New York City hospitals, and then we have Long Island hospitals, and then we have Westchester hospitals, and then we have upstate hospitals -- that has to go. Even in New York City you have two basic hospital systems in New York City: you have the private hospitals, voluntary hospitals, about 160 of them, which are some of the finest healthcare institutions in the United States of America. You know, this is Mount Sinai, Columbia Presbyterian, et cetera. Some of their members are also upstate, but they're the large, private institutions. Greater New York Hospital Association, Ken Raske runs that association of 160. 

You then have in New York City the public hospitals, the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation. They are eleven public hospitals. They are a universe, and then you have the private hospitals as a separate universe. The eleven public hospitals are the hospitals that in many ways have always been under greater stress and greater need. We have to get those two systems, the private system and the public system in New York City, working together in a way they never did before. The distinction of private-public, that has to go out the window. We are one healthcare system. On top of that, it can't be the downstate hospitals, and the upstate hospitals, and the Long Island hospitals. When we talk about capacity of beds, when I say we now have 75,000 beds, that's a statewide number. That means those beds have to be available to the people in New York City or Nassau even if those beds are up in Albany.

So, combining that whole system, and you're no longer just the Western New York hospitals, or the Central New York hospitals; it's one coordinate system. It's much easier said than done, but we have to do it. On top of that, you have to overlay the new federal beds that came in that are an entirely new component. We have Javits Center -- 2,500 beds. We have the USNS Comfort -- 1,000 beds. We're planning other federal facilities. These all have to be coordinated on top of the existing hospital network. So, you see the organizational situation that we're dealing with. And let's be honest and let's learn from the past, we know where we have to focus. We know where we're going to have problems in the next hospitals because the hospitals that have the least capacity that have already been stressed are the hospitals that are not going to be able to handle the additional load. That is a fact. You know which hospitals are struggling. We do reports all the time about the financial capacity of hospitals and what hospital are in stronger versus weaker position.

The hospitals that are in a weaker position are the hospitals that are going to suffer when they then carry an added burden. That was Elmhurst hospital. It happened to be a public hospital. It happened to be a public hospital in a place of density. It happened to get overwhelmed and that's what then you saw the burden on the staff. You saw the emotion. You saw the stress. That can't happen, and that's what we talked about yesterday. And people said, "Well, Elmhurst isn't my responsibility. Elmhurst is a public hospital; the City runs it. I don't run it. It's New York City, its' not a private hospital." I don't care which link breaks in the chain. The chain is still broken. It doesn't matter which hospital, which link. Any link breaks, the chain breaks. The healthcare system is a chain; it breaks anywhere, it breaks everywhere.

That has to be our mentality. We laid out a full plan on how to do facility development, how to move people among hospitals so nobody gets overloaded, shifting patients, shifting staff, shifting supplies. None of us have enough supplies. Okay, then let's pool our supplies and let's put them out for the people who need them. Just because one hospital happened to have found a vendor from China who delivered 5 million masks, let's share those masks. And we talked about that yesterday.

We also talked again at length about ventilators which everybody knows is a key piece of equipment, identifying all the ventilators in the state, who has them, who has them in a stockpile, who ordered them, who expects them to come in and we'll have one stockpile of ventilators that we can distribute for everyone who needs them. We also talked about splitting of ventilators because that's a technology that does exist. It's been used before. It's not ideal. You take one ventilator and it's used for two patients.

The federal government is a partner in this obviously. I spoke to the President again yesterday about this situation. I spoke to the Vice President. I spoke to Jared Kushner. The White House has been very helpful. We have to get the federal agencies on the ground to understand how this operates, especially FEMA, because we have to be coordinated and people have to know what they're doing and this is no time for anyone to be learning on the job. And we're going to be working through that today. PPE, same thing. We want to know what everybody has. One stockpile, we'll distribute it fairly.

Testing, how do we get, when does this end? This ends when we get a fast track test, an at home test, 15-minute test, and people can find out when they can go back to work because they're negative. We're working on additional testing. As I said, the department of health has a new test, but that's when this ends.

We're also working on the new medications. We're leading the country in many of these developments. We have saliva testing. We're working on the antibody testing and plasma testing at the same time.

We put together an essential coordinating team. It's going to be led by the Department of Health. Westchester is on it and Greater New York, New York City is on it, Long Island is on it. If the federal government is going to participate they have to be part of this team because we have to know what we're doing and I don't want FEMA coming in and blowing the coordination of what everyone is trying to do.

The coordinating team is going to organize upstate-downstate transfers, set patient loads for hospitals, so if one hospital gets up near an overload capacity, let's call it, those hospitals start to send patients to other hospitals before they get up to their max. Within the New York City public hospital system, within the Greater New York private system, and then among the different systems. Different mentality. But we have to do it.

We set two missions. One was hospitals. Second was individual responsibility. The individual responsibility is about discipline. It's about selflessness and being informed. The basic point is stay at home. Stay at home. I know it's hard to stay at home and I know everyone thinks, you know, I can go out, I can be smart, and I won't get infected because it's me. I'm a superhero. It's not going to be me. That is not true.

And it's not just about you. It's not just about your health and your life that you're playing with here, my friend. You can infect other people. So I've been trying to communicate this many different ways for many days. We still see people coming out who don't need to be out. Even for essential workers, people have to be careful. And again, I've been trying to communicate that. Everyone, everyone is subject to this virus. It is the great equalizer. I don't care how smart, how rich, how powerful you think you are. I don't care how young, how old. This virus is the great equalizer.

My brother Chris is positive for coronavirus - found out this morning. Now, he is going to be fine. He's young, in good shape, strong, not as strong as he thinks, but he will be fine. But there's a lesson in this. He's an essential worker. Member of the press. So, he has been out there. The chance you get infected is very high. I spoke to him this morning and he's going to be quarantined in his basement at home. He's just worried about his daughter and his kids. He hopes he didn't get them infected.

You don't really know Chris. You see Chris. He has a show at nine o'clock on CNN. But you just see one dimension, right? You see a person in his job and in his job he's combative and argumentative and pushing people - but that's his job. That's really not who he is. He is a really sweet, beautiful guy and he's my best friend. My father was always working, so it was always just me and Chris. He's a lawyer, also, Chris. He is a lawyer because growing up the decision point came to what do you want to do after college? And my father was very strong personality, and my father basically suggested forcefully to Chris that he should be a lawyer. It was a different time and a different place, you know? Now, my daughters, Cara, who's here, they all follow their individual stars. This is their destiny, which is right. If you had said to my father, I want to follow my individual star, he would say, you're going to follow your individual star right out that door, you know? That's what he would have said.

So, Chris went to law school but he never really had a desire to practice law. He calls me when he is about 26, he is at a law firm and he said, you know, I don't want to be a lawyer. I said I know but you are now a lawyer. You are. He said, but I don't want to be a lawyer. He said I want to be a journalist. I said you want to be a journalist? I said, too late. You're a lawyer. You have to pay law school bills. You didn't go to journalism school. It is too late. No, no, I think I can do it. God bless him. He quit the law firm, went to work for Fox TV, which is a whole separate conversation in the house, and then worked his way up. He's at CNN. He does a beautiful job, but a sweet guy and now he is quarantined in the basement but he's funny as heck. He said to me even the dogs won't come down stairs, he says. But he is concerned about his wife and his kids.

But the reason I raise this is he's smart. He's social distancing, yes. But you wind up exposing yourself. People wind up exposing you and then they find out they're positive a couple of days later. And I had a situation with Christopher two weeks ago that I even mentioned my mother was at his house. And I said, that is a mistake. Now, my mother is in a different situation. She is older and she's healthy, but I said you can't have Mom at the house. And he said, no, no, no, Mom is lonely. She wants to be at the house. I feel bad. She is cooped up in the apartment. I said, yeah, I feel bad she is cooped up in the apartment too. But you expose her to a lot of things. You have the kids there, your wife there. You're coming and going. Your wife is coming and going and you could expose mom to the virus. And love is sometimes a little - needs to be a little smarter than just reactive. And we had a whole discussion. And truth, now, he is informed. I'm informed. Was that dangerous? Was that not dangerous? I went back to Dr. Zucker and I said look, we have to tell people, what are the rules? How does this work? That's when I came up with Matilda's Law, and I said I named it for my mother. And it was very clear about people who are older and what they should be exposed to. My brother, it was two weeks ago, if my brother still had my mother at his house, again out of love and comfort, and my mother wanted to be at eth house anyway, by the way, she didn't want to be sitting at home in an apartment. So she would have been doing what she wanted to do, he would have been doing what he wanted to do. It would have seemed great and harmless, but now we'd have a much different situation. Because if he was exposed, chances are, she may very well have been exposed, and then we would be looking at a different situation than just my brother sitting in his basement for two weeks. So think about that, right. My brother's smart. He was acting out of love. Luckily we caught it early enough.

But it's my family, it's your family, it's all of our families. And this virus is that insidious. And we have to keep that in mind. Keep in mind Matilda's Law. Remember who is vulnerable here. And protect them. You want to go out and act stupid for yourself, that's one thing. But your stupid actions don't just affect you. You come home, you can infect someone else, and you can cause a serious illness or even death for them, by your actions. And people have to really get this, and internalize it, because it can happen to anyone. Two weeks with my mother and Christopher, today is a very different situation.

Last point, there is nothing that I have said different since I started these briefings. And there's nothing we have learned that is different since I started these briefings. We know what to do. We just have to do it. It is individual discipline to stay at home. That's what it is, it's discipline. No social distancing. It's discipline. Well, I'm bored. I know. I'm bored. It's discipline. Making this healthcare system work, that's government skill, that's government performance. That's saying to that healthcare system, I don't care how it worked yesterday, I don't care whose turf this is, I don't care whose ego is involved, I'm sorry, we have to find a way to work, a better way. Time to say to that federal government and to FEMA and HHS, you have to learn how to do your job, and you have to learn how to do it quickly. Because time is not our friend. It's about a social stamina. This is not one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, okay? This is not going to be an Easter surprise. Understand that and have the stamina to deal with it. And it's unity.

Let's help one another. New York needs help now. Yesterday I asked for healthcare workers from across the country to come here because we need help. We will pay you, and more importantly, we will return the favor. This is going to be a rolling wave across the country. New York, then it'll be Detroit, then it'll be New Orleans, then it will be California. If we were smart as a nation, come help us in New York. Get the equipment. Get the training. Get the experience. And then let's all go help the next place, and then the next place, and then the next place. That would be a smart national way of doing this. And showing that unity. And, unity meaning, we're not, I know this is a political year, and everything is a political backdrop, and Democrats want to criticize Republicans, Republicans want to criticize Democrats. Not now. Not now. There are no red states, there are no blue states. The virus doesn't attack and kill red Americans or blue Americans. It attacks all Americans. And keep that in mind, because there is, there is a unifying wisdom in that.