Andrew Cuomo New York COVID-19 Press Conference Transcript May 11

Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (00:00) ... but he's been working with us on this since it began. Dr. James Malatras to my right. Not a real doctor, but a PhD doctor, which still counts to be a doctor. To my left Secretary Melissa DeRosa, who is the top state official, appointed state official. It's a pleasure to be with her. It's a pleasure to be in Rochester today, really Irondequoit, but for most people, they'll relate to Rochester. It's a pleasure to be in the Rochester Regional Health Facility, and I want to thank the Present and CEO, Eric Bieber, very much for having us here today. I also, we're joined by a number of elected officials, I want to thank them for being here. We have County Executive Adam Bello. A pleasure to be with you. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (00:52) We have that great congressman who had a really challenging position before he went to Congress, because he was working in New York State government, but he's now in Washington and we need his voice there more than ever. This is going to be a big week in Washington. We need to get the federal government to recognize the situation that state governments face, and fund not just corporate America, but fund working Americans, police, firefighters, school teachers. They have yet to do that to the extent necessary, and hopefully with the leadership of the House we'll get that done this week. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (01:35) We have Robert Duffy, who is former mayor of Rochester, my great lieutenant governor in the first term, a pleasure to be with him as we go forward. We have elected officials here with us today. I also asked the elected officials all across the state to join us to understand today's presentation, so we invited all the county executives, we invited all the mayors to listen to this presentation, because we start a new chapter today in many ways. It's a new phase, if you will. May 15th is the end of the statewide closure. May 15th is the end of this week, and the question is now going to shift more towards localities and regions across the state to make sure they're in a position to open, and the state will be working in coordination with them, but it's an exciting new phase. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (02:37) We're all anxious to get back to work. We want to do it smartly, we want to do it intelligently, but we want to do it, and that's what this week is going to be all about. In terms of where we are, total hospitalizations are down again. That net change is down again. The net change in intubation is down again. The number of lives lost, still too high obviously at 161, but better than it has been, so we see all the arrows are pointed in the right direction. If you look at the number of new COVID cases per day, about 488. That is just about where we started this horrific situation, right? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (03:24) So May 10th, we're right about where we were on March 19th before we went into the abyss of the COVID virus, and when you see the number of lives lost, again, we're right about where we started before we really went into the heart of this crisis, and that's what it's been, it's been a crisis, and a painful one, but we're coming out of the other side. So in many ways, from my point of view, we're on the other side of the mountain, right? We got hit with the virus, we saw that incline, we saw the number of cases growing, we saw the number of deaths growing, we finally hit a plateau, because we did what we needed to do, and we changed out behavior and we closed down, and we turned the corner, and then we started to come down the other side, and that was the decline, and now the decline has gotten to a point where we are just about where we started the journey. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (04:33) So, to turn to reopening, because we have abated the worst by what we've done, and now we can intelligently turn towards reopening, and that's May 15th. That's this Friday, and local regions all across the state should start to prepare for it, and people as well, and that's what we want to start to talk about today. We are going to open when we're ready to open. What does ready to open mean? Well, first the number of hospitalizations, the infection rates show decline. The federal government with CDC guidelines have laid that out, and we think it's intelligent, and we've accepted the federal guidance, and we have testing tracing in place in every local region. Testing tracing, words we never really heard before this situation, but now people hear them every day. Testing, have the capacity to do enough tests. Diagnostic tests, so are you positive or are you negative? Antibody tests, did you have the virus and have you resolved the virus? Have that testing capacity in place. Tracing, when you find a positive case, trace it back and then isolate the positive so you reduce the spread. It sounds simple. It's a logistical nightmare, never been done before, but that's what testing tracing is all about, and that has to be done region by region. That capacity has to fit every locality. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (06:11) We talk about being New York tough and what tough really means, and the second word in New York tough is always smart, and we have been smart through this, and we have to continue to be smart. There are seven metrics, if you will, to get it down to a quantifiable situation that each region has to look at. First are the infection rate, the number of hospitalizations, the 14 day decline in hospitalizations or under 15 new hospitalizations. That means you're controlling the hospitalizations. New hospitalizations under two per one hundred thousand, so you know that the virus, again, is under control. Then number four, let's learn from the past. We had a true public health emergency that we were in danger of overwhelming our hospital capacity. Let's make sure we have 30% buffer in a number of available hospital beds in case that virus takes off again on you. We want to make sure we have hospital beds, so hospitals up to 70%, but 30% available hospital beds, 30% available ICU beds. Many of the people who come in with this virus need an ICU bed. We want to make sure we have the ICU beds if we need them, god forbid. And then, testing capacity so we know what the virus spread is doing. You don't know what the virus is doing unless you are testing, and then the tracing that fits with the testing program. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (07:58) We've been doing more tests than any state in the United States of America, so New York is way ahead in what we're doing on testing. We've come up to speed faster, we're doing more tests per capita than any country on the globe, so we're doing very well in that regard, but you need it in every region. It doesn't help the Finger Lakes if the Capital District has enough testing, you have to have enough testing and enough tracing in the Finger Lakes. So each region has to have that in place, and we understand that. We can measure this. This has always been about data and science for us, and you can look at each individual region and you will know where each region is in this state by those criteria. So you know what your infection rate is, you know what your hospitalization rate is, you know how many tests you need in place, you know how many tracers you need in place. This can be a science. It can be measured, right? And that's what we want to do. We want to demystify this entire issue. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (09:07) It sounds like a science fiction movie, I know. I feel like we've been living a science fiction movie, but you can also study it and analyze it, because we have a lot of experience now, right? We've been living with this for months, other countries have lived with this for months, so let's learn, let's be smart, that's who we are, and we can do that by each region in this state. And you see, depending on the region in the state, some regions are ready to go today, they just need to get some logistical pieces in order by the end of the week, some places are very close, Central New York just one or two criteria that haven't been met yet, and you can do that with Long Island, New York City, all across the state. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (10:01) When we reopen, we're talking about a phased reopening. That's what everyone basically is doing. The question is moderating that phasing and doing it intelligently, but starting with construction and manufacturing, retail, curbside pickup, agriculture, forestry and fishing, then to phase two, phase three, phase four, monitoring all along. We start with businesses that are more essential and pose a lower risk, right? Because once you say, "We're going to reopen," they say, "Well, what first?" Well, really everybody says "Me first." After "Me first," what businesses first? Those that are most essential and those that pose a lower risk because you can socially distance, et cetera. That's the matrix to make the decision. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (10:59) And then, businesses have to do their part also. This is not a one sided affair. Businesses have to put safety precautions in place. We understand what has to be done, how the workforce has to have personal protection, they have to be socially distanced, the workspace itself in some cases has to be adjusted, reconfigured. How do you have people work but they're six feet apart? They don't come to a cafeteria, there's no gathering, right? That's what we're trying to avoid. And then, what processes do we have in place to test those employees, or if an employee is symptomatic, you can get them testing right away. You can then do tracing within the workforce. You look at what's going on around the country, just listen to the news. There's meat processing plants where you have hundreds and hundreds of workers getting sick. We have an agriculture plant in Madison County that dozens of people got sick. It's not about ... Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (12:03) ... that dozens of people got sick. It's not about the meat, or the agriculture. It's the gathering. It's the density. That's what creates the problem. So, learning those lessons and making sure we don't make those mistakes here. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (12:19) On retail, all retail would be authorized to do curbside pickup, or drop off, or in store pickup. The essential retail, which we've been, has been open all along, will continue operating under the current protocols. We'll also open certain businesses statewide, which are low risk. Landscaping, gardening, low-risk recreational activities like tennis, drive in movie theaters. Talk about going back to the future, back to drive in movie theaters. I'm okay with that by the way. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (12:58) Local officials, they have to do their work and their responsibility. Testing and tracing, they have to have those systems in place. We have to have a system in place regionally to monitor the infection rate with the hospitals. That connection has to be very close. They have to know on a day to day basis, if not an hour to hour basis, how many people are walking into the hospitals. I often do conference calls with all the hospitals in the state to find out exactly what is going on, because they can tell you how many people walk through the door that morning, or that afternoon. And you want to be able to watch that. And that has to be done on a regional basis. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (13:48) Businesses have to follow these new rules, but we have to make sure they're following those rules also. And you will get calls from employees who say, I went back to work, but by the way, I'm not comfortable. I don't think this is appropriate social distancing. I don't think I've been given the appropriate equipment. Regional governments have to be in a position to respond to those. The local governments have to be in communication with each other. We do this on a regional basis. So, there are a number of counties in that region, but it's one region. And this virus doesn't respect county borders, or state borders. Those governments have to be in contact with each other. If you know what's happening with your neighbor, you know what's happening in your district. So that has to be in place and that has to work. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (14:50) And there's also something we call a regional control room, which is made up of the top officials, government officials, academic officials, healthcare professionals, that are watching the situation in that region develop. You are going to increase activity, depending on how intelligently you increase activity will be the possible effect on the spread of the virus. You need to know what the impact is, you need to know it in real time, and you need to be in a position to respond. If it does not go well, and you see that infection rate moving, because the hospitals tell you they see an increase, or because your testing data shows an increase. You have to be able to pull the plug, or slow down the increase in activity. And that's what we call the circuit breaker, right. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (15:53) So, you're increasing the activity. You're watching the infection rate. You're watching the hospitalization rate. You see that start to tick up. You have to have a circuit breaker, slow down the activity level, because you're increasing the infection rate, and nobody wants to be there. That means you're going back to the other side of the mountain, and we just made it over the mountain. Nobody wants to go back to the other side of the mountain. So those regional control groups are very important. They have to be in place. They have to communicate. Everyone has to know what each other's responsibilities are going forward. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (16:37) And we have been working with the regions all across the state over the past few weeks, we have those groups assembled. But this week it's Monday, before Friday start talking, start communicating, understand who does what, where. And that's true in regions all across the state. But I would urge them now to get on the telephone, or Zoom, or whatever your preferred technology. Start talking, start understanding what happens on Friday. What do our numbers look like. And let's get that all set sooner rather than later. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (17:21) This is the next big step in this historic journey. First phase was figure out what we were dealing with, because we had no idea. Scramble frankly, to deal with a situation that dropped from another planet. Stabilize. Ramp up the healthcare system. Inform people. Get people to understand what we were dealing with, and control the damage. That's the mountain to me. We're now on the other side of the mountain. Next step. How do we reopen? How do we reopen intelligently? And how do we reopen without taking a step back? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (18:17) Well, what we have done thus far is really amazing. And it was because we were smart, and because we were unified. And because we did that, we averted tragedy. Let's just remember where we were, right. Remember where you were before you take a step forward. We had the virus that attacked us from Europe. The virus was coming. They now say, the experts now say, the geniuses now say the virus came from Europe in January and February. And you know what, no one knew. No one knew. With all the sophistication, with all the public health organizations, with that whole alphabet soup of agencies, nobody knew the virus was coming from Europe. Everybody's looking at China, and the virus is coming from Europe. Why? Because by the time we moved, the virus had traveled from China to Europe. And then people are getting on flights from Europe, coming to New York. Two million travelers, two million travelers came from Europe. We had no idea. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (19:31) So New York, the East Coast, people were landing at JFK. They were landing at Newark Airport. And that's where the virus came from. January, February, March, nobody knew. European travel ban goes into effect mid March. It's too late. It was already here. Okay, let's learn the lesson going forward. But that was the situation. Those were the cards we were dealt. That's why New York had such high numbers. Not because there's anything special or different about New York, but because New York is where the European flights were coming in. And we didn't know. That was the situation that we were handed. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (20:14) They then say, well, we project hospitalizations to be 120,000. I said 120,000? You know how many hospital beds we have in this state? 50,000. How can we have hospitalizations of 120,000, if we only have 50,000 beds counting every bed in the entire state of New York. If you could coordinate every bed, you are at 53,000 beds, and they projected 120,000. So, scrambled to try to get more hospital beds. But the only real course was, you have to reduce the infection rate. How do you reduce the infection rate? You have to close down, stop people from spreading, stop gathering, stop density. We did that. Otherwise, thousands more people would have died. Thousands more would have died. That is not rhetorical. That is not dramatic. That is a factual statement. Thousands more people would've died. We made that happen. We changed that trajectory. I didn't even know was possible at one time. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (21:35) When this started, we were at a truly bad and frightening place. If we didn't change the trajectory of this virus, and we had 120,000 people show up at our hospitals, we would have made the situation in Italy look like a walk in the park. We were really at a very, very bad place. Again, through no fault of our own. A virus came from Europe. Whoever would have figured that. Somebody should've, but, above my pay grade. We changed the trajectory, dramatically by what we did. And that was smart, but we have to stay smart, and we have to stay united. You look at what we've done. New York, the cases are now on the decline. You look at the rest of the nation outside of New York, the cases are still on the incline. We took the worst situation in the nation, and changed the trajectory, so now we're on the decline. The rest of the nation, the cases are still on the incline. That is because of what the people in this state did. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (23:06) If you had said, when we started this, yes, we have more cases than anyone else. Yes, we had this European virus attack us and nobody expected it. But we're not only going to change our trajectory, we're going to change the trajectory more dramatically than any place else in the nation. And when you look at the nation compared to New York, you're going to see us on the decline, the rest of the nation on the incline. People would have said it was impossible, but we did it. But we have to stay smart. On this next phase, we have to learn from the mistakes that others have made, and we're not the first to reopen. And that's a good thing, because you can look around and learn. Other countries reopened too fast. They didn't have controls in place, and they reopened, and then they had to slow down, or they had to stop. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (24:03) ... Reopened, and then they had to slow down or they had to stop. We don't want to do that. We want to monitor our reopening, so if there's any change, we can immediately calibrate it. Some states have not coordinated their actions. So you have one county doing this, another county doing this, you've confused the general public. And by the way, Monroe County cannot open in and of itself. Onondaga County cannot open in and of itself, Albany County cannot open in and of itself. There is no county by county plan here. It has to be coordinated, and it has to be at least in a region. And we did that, other states didn't, it was smart. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (24:46) And there's one set of rules, and the public has to understand the set of rules. Some states are opening, even though they haven't met the CDC guidelines, which I don't even know how that happens. Federal government says, here are the CDC guidelines, which are basic health guidelines. Some states don't meet those guidelines and they're opening anyway. Well, there's a lot of pressure to open. I know, but pressure doesn't mean you act unintelligently. Some states opened and then saw a rush of people from surrounding states. We've talked about that here, the concept of an attractive nuisance. Finger Lakes opens, you can't open up an attraction or a site that will be attracting people from outside the region, and then you have a problem you never encountered. So that's something to watch. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (25:40) And some places never really made the people part of the plan. And that is a fundamental mistake. Because we are not at a point where government is going to solve anything, frankly. This is people who are solving the problem. Personal opinions, opposed to facts. I did one thing right as governor that I'm proud of. I got the people involved in this situation to a greater degree than they have been involved, probably in modern history, probably in modern history. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (26:23) From day one, this was of such a magnitude that unless people engaged and understood and bought into this, government was impotent. State government can't enforce any of these things that we did, stay in the house, close every school, close every business, state government can't enforce that. People had to understand the facts and people had to engage in governing themselves in a way they hadn't in decades. I don't know what happened, I'm still trying to figure out once society got to a place where people would accept the lack of professionalism from government, the lack of competence from elected officials. I don't know when government became so political, and it all became about rhetoric rather than actual competence. But it happened somewhere along the way, that government could not handle this situation. People had to get engaged, people had to be informed. And that's the one thing I did right. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (27:43) Now, they got engaged because it mattered. This is not an abstract issue. You're talking about people's lives and people's health, and the health of their children. So they were interested, they were engaged, but they were also informed. And I worked very hard every day to make sure they knew the facts, trust the people, Lincoln, and informed public will keep this country safe. True, and that's exactly what happened here. And that's what we're going to continue to do. People need to be part of this. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (28:21) The whole plan that we're outlining today is all down, it's online, it's in a book, people need to understand exactly how we do this second phase, just the way they understood how we were going to get over that mountain, and how we were going to flatten the mountain, they have to understand now how we reopened, and they have to be part of it. Understand the plan, hold me accountable, hold me accountable, hold your local officials accountable, but people have to be part of it. And they have to know the facts and know what we're doing, because it's going to come down to how people react and how people behave. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (29:12) And if they understand what we're doing, they will do it, just as I couldn't enforce any of this on day one, the local officials are not going to be able to enforce it either. Nobody's going to mandate personal behavior. People have to wear a mask, people have to be smart when they show up at work, people have to be smart when they shop. They have to understand, this is not the floodgates are open, go back, do everything you were doing. Be smart, nobody's going to protect your health, but you. No one's going to protect your children's health, but you. Well, children aren't effected. Oh, really? That's another fact that they're going to change on us. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (29:57) Now we're worrying about, we have 93 cases that we're investigating of young children who have COVID-related diseases. So this is about keeping yourself smart, and keeping yourself healthy, and keeping your family healthy. We'll do everything we can, but you have to be New York tough. Smart is the first word after tough, united, disciplined, loving. Thank you for being here. Any questions? Speaker 2: (30:30) Governor Cuomo, what will Friday look like May 15th? Can people just report for work at a construction or manufacturing company that's qualified to open at 9:00 AM, start a business, and can a whole staff reach out, or who will give those answers? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (30:47) As I said, this is now a shift. We're going from phase one, which was basically a state controlled one set of rules all across the state. That was phase one. This reopening phase is locally driven, regionally driven, and regionally designed. So, the businesses that can open are the businesses that are approved by that region, and approved with these conditions. Every business that reopens is going to have to meet certain conditions. The state set a certain number of conditions, local governments may add additional conditions to those businesses and how they open. And that has to be done on a region by region basis. Speaker 2: (31:42) And they'll get that information sometime prior to Friday? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (31:42) Yes. Speaker 3: (31:42) Governor, how long do you anticipate being at each phase? Obviously, a lot of the big businesses in our area and any area is phase two. So how long do you anticipate it taking to get to that point? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (31:58) It will be determined by the facts and the numbers as you go along. You are more of a visual person. You're turning a valve, increasing the economic activity. Your question is, how fast can we open the valve? You have a dial right next to the valve that says, infection rate. You have another dial that says, hospitalization rate. You can open that valve as fast or as slow to keep that infection rate below 1.1, which is what they call outbreak. If it hits 1.1, it means the virus is increasing exponentially. So watch that dial, watch the hospitalization rate, and the timing of phase one, phase two, phase three, it's determined by those two dials, is determined by those facts. You watch the infection rate, you watch the hospitalization rate as fast as you can come online without increasing the virus spread to outbreak, or increasing the number of deaths, then that's how fast you reopen the economy. Speaker 3: (33:17) Will you shut it if it's too fast? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (33:20) The local region has a control room and a circuit breaker, we call it, to stay with the graphic physical metaphor. A circuit breaker, if you see those dials going into the red zone, if you're really closely watching the dials, you wouldn't have to turn the valve off, you would just slow the valve a little bit, depending on how well your dials are calibrated, and whether you're watching or not. So the best would be just slow instead of off. But if the dial has gone to the red zone, circuit breaker, turn the valve off until you get the dials back under control. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (34:04) The whole ride across the mountain has been getting the spread of the infection under control, what they call the infection rate, how fast it's spreading. It has to be under one, which is, one person who is infected infects less than one other person. You have to keep the infection rate below that, and you have to keep the hospitalization rate at a manageable level. You can't overwhelm your hospitals, period. Because then people die, and that is a universal bad thing. You watch those two dials and you calibrate it locally. Well, how fast can you open? Nobody knows. It also depends on how smart you are in the opening. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (34:56) Now, if you open businesses and the employees are smart, and the business owners are smart, well then, theoretically, nobody should get infected. You should be able to go to work, be six feet apart from everyone, have the right precautions, nobody gets infected. You do it wrong, you're at the meat processing plants and the poultry processing plants that we've seen across the nation, you open up, everybody goes to one place, a few people have the infection, and now you have a thousand workers infected. How did that happen? It was improper precautions in the workplace. So it depends on how businesses do, how employees do, and then you watch those dials. As fast as you can reopen, reopen, just watch the dials. Speaker 3: (35:51) Governor Cuomo, as businesses are coming up with these reopening plans, and we move on from phase one to phase two, how long will the businesses in each phase keep these plans in place? Like say, how long will they- Speaker 4: (36:03) ... phase, keep these plans in place? Say, how long will they have to stay six feet apart, or when will it be okay to maybe lift those plans? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (36:10) It depends on the facts. You'll know. You'll watch. Your basic question is when do we don't have to worry about the virus anymore? I hope it's tomorrow. I doubt it's tomorrow. It depends on how good we are at reducing the spread and controlling the spread. It's how smart we are. It's our actions, our behavior. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (36:34) That's why I come back to, who slowed the spread in the beginning? The people of this state. Nobody else. There was no government action. It was an unprecedented action of the people presented with the facts, informed and engaged. Hasn't happened in my lifetime. Hasn't happened in my lifetime. I've never seen this situation before, where people actually did what the founding fathers thought they would do. That they would really care, and really get engaged, and really get informed, and really act on what they believe. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (37:20) For so many years, what government did was just irrelevant, or overly political, or you didn't believe anyone, you didn't trust anyone, so they just tuned it out, right? I have to live my life. I can't watch this sideshow called government politics. Yeah. Well now, it's a matter of life and death, and they got engaged. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (37:40) Tell you something else gratuitously. I also believe, if we actually learn from this moment... We talk about re-imagining New York so that we don't just build back, we build back better, and we're going to do that. I also think this is a moment that could change history in this country for the better. You... whoever the you is that started this virus. You had a wake up call for this country, and a moment in history that people have never gone through before. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (38:24) You stopped the country. You stopped the economy. You put... We call it pause in New York. You put people's lives on pause. And everyone went through a period of turmoil, and stress, and reflection on their own personal lives, their family lives, their whole situation. Government, society. I think this is going to be a reevaluation all across the board. And I think we can be the better for it. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (38:56) I believe that. I believe we individually can be the better for it. I believe my kids are going to be the better for it. I believe I am going to be the better for it. I believe my family's going to be stronger for it. And I believe the state is going to be better for it on an individual and a collective level. And I think people are going to think about society and government differently than they ever did. Because it really, really matters now, and they understand how government can make a significant difference in their lives. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (39:35) And it's not going to be a sideshow anymore. They're not going to tolerate it. I believe that. So, they were in charge, the people. They accomplished a great, great feat in this state. We had the worst situation in the nation. The worst. And now our numbers are on the decline, and the rest of the country is still on the incline. So, what New Yorkers did, nobody could have imagined. If they show that same resolve and intelligence in this next phase, it's up to them. It is up to them. Speaker 5: (40:15) Governor, with businesses reopening and schools still closed, there's going to be a need for childcare. Are there guidelines for daycares reopening? I didn't see it on your graph there. When could daycares open? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (40:28) Yeah. It's a very good point. Look, we've said all along, the closing of the schools had a direct impact on what you could do with the businesses, right? And we said you couldn't open all the businesses wholesale without opening schools, because you'd make it very problematic. How do people go to work with their children at home? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (40:52) We said we're not opening schools for the remainder of the academic year. So, these business openings until the end of the academic year, you're going to be in phase one, phase two. You're not going to have all the businesses open. But arranging childcare for those workers who need it are one of the responsibilities of these regional councils. You have to have daycare available, childcare available for those workers who now are going to go back to work. Speaker 6: (41:23) Governor Cuomo, thank you. Can you hear me okay with this thing on? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (41:26) With the mask? Speaker 6: (41:27) Yeah. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (41:27) Leave the mask on. Speaker 6: (41:28) All right. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (41:29) For multiple reasons. Speaker 6: (41:32) You sound like the father of a woman I dated, yeah. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (41:35) Yeah. The father of the woman you dated was right. And I would make an exception on the I like the boyfriend rule if you were the boyfriend. Just so we're clear. Speaker 6: (41:51) I'm quite sure you would, sir. Three key factors for regional reopening: hospitalizations, hospital deaths, new hospitalization rates. You've explained that. The one thing is, a lot of our viewers want to see that on a consistent data. They want to be able to see how a region is doing, and we can't seem to get that data. Speaker 6: (42:09) We know that you have it and it's provided to you. You're kind enough to share it on a statewide basis. But again, this is a regional- Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (42:17) Yes, sir, you're exactly right. Speaker 6: (42:17) ... factor. Wow, thank you. So, if you- Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (42:22) Lightning strikes. Speaker 6: (42:23) Yes. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (42:30) Just when you thought it was impossible. Speaker 6: (42:30) Yeah. So- Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (42:30) Anything can happen once. Speaker 6: (42:30) Yeah. So- Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (42:30) A blind chicken gets a kernel of corn every once in a while. Go ahead. Speaker 6: (42:32) All right. So, none of the- Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (42:32) [inaudible 00:06:38]. Speaker 6: (42:39) The state health department does have a website where they provide information, but none of those are things, the metrics upon which the date of reopening are based. You have said you've worked very hard every day to make sure that we get information, and to hold you accountable. Can you get the state health department to start releasing that information on a consistent daily basis so folks all involved in this can keep track of it, and how we're doing? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (43:05) Good question, you're right. When can we put up the daily hospitalization rate region by region? Speaker 7: (43:12) This dashboard that the Governor put up today will be public today. So you can go to a website, you'll see how the regions are doing. It gets updated every 24 hours starting today. Speaker 6: (43:23) Excellent. One more thing on a business reopening. Do they have to submit a plan to the state in order to- Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (43:28) No, they do it region by region. Speaker 6: (43:30) The regions will handle it? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (43:31) Yes. Speaker 6: (43:31) Because some were concerned that if there's one agency in charge of this, they may get overwhelmed like the state department of labor was. Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (43:37) Yes. Yes. Speaker 6: (43:37) So it's the regional [crosstalk 00:43:37]? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (43:38) Region by region. Speaker 6: (43:38) Bob Duffy will- Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (43:40) Yes. Speaker 6: (43:40) ... help us with that? Gov. Andrew Cuomo: (43:41) Bob Duffy, Adam Bello, Joe Morelle. Call Joe Morelle. Phone number two oh two. Thank you very much. God bless you.