Coronavirus: Cuomo Sets Sights On Reducing Young People In Parks

NEW YORK, NY — After Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked New York City to come up with a plan to reduce the number of young people gathering in public parks, the governor said he will ask surrounding communities of Westchester, Putnam, Nassau and Suffolk counties to do the same. At the same time, his office plans to issue an executive order Monday directing all New York hospitals to add at least 50 percent to their bed capacity, with the goal of possibly doubling.

Cuomo on Monday said he as not yet received the plan from New York City, but noted young people have not been following his statewide orders to reduce density and slow the spread of the new coronavirus, which has infected about 5,700 New Yorkers as of Monday morning and led to 157 deaths in the state.

"My density control measures weren’t enough," Cuomo said. "That was clear."

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The governor said he visited various New York City parks over the weekend and expressed displeasure that many appeared as if it was a typical sunny Saturday. He stressed that young people can still contract the disease, officially known as COVID-19, and transmit it to others.

Also on Monday, the governor said his team is beginning to think about the affect the outbreak and the state's response to it is having on the economy. Cuomo this month declared a state of emergency and ordered all non-essential New York workers to stay at home. Restaurants and bars were ordered to switch to takeout and delivery services, and all non-essential gatherings — of any size and for any reason — were told to be canceled or postponed. New Yorkers would only be allowed to leave home for activities such as grocery shopping, getting medications and solitary exercise. Those who leave home were told to keep a safe distance from others.

The measure could last months, the governor said. On Monday, he acknowledged his team is thinking about how to restart the economy while keeping aligned with public health policies. While details were scant, Cuomo said experts at Yale University are looking at possibly having certain people return to work, including young people, those who've already had the disease and those who are immune. He noted the survival rate of those infected is still about 98 percent overall.

James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, recently predicted the U.S. unemployment rate could hit 30 percent during the second quarter due to shutdowns, according to Bloomberg. Additionally, he said the country could see as much as a 50 percent drop in gross domestic product.

Cuomo's office plans to issue an executive order Monday an executive order telling hospitals to officially increase capacity by at least 50 percent with the goal of doubling their overall capacity. In doing so, he said the state is searching for more staff to fill those beds, noting that there are hundreds of thousands of health care professionals in the state qualified to do so.

Supplies such as face masks, personal protective equipment and ventilators remain the most urgent need for hospitals, Cuomo said. New York and other states have entered into bidding wars in recent days over supplies, sometimes paying six or seven times as much for supplies as it could have before the outbreak.

"I'm bidding up other states," Cuomo said. It's not the way to do it. Why are we competing?"

He once again called for the federal government to step in and order manufacturers to make supplies using the federal Defense Production Act. Cuomo noted it would be a governmental exertion of power over companies, but that they would be compensated "handsomely." A graphic created by the state showed the state was able to obtain about 34,000 N-95 masks for Long Island, and about 86,000 surgical masks, 35,000 gloves, 14,500 gowns and 20,000 face shields. For Westchester County, about 17,000 N-95 masks were obtained, along with 43,000 surgical masks, 18,000 gloves, 7,000 gowns and 10,000 face shields.

The state plans to begin trials this week to inject antibodies from people who've had the disease and recovered into sick patients, the governor said.

"We think it shows promise," Cuomo said.

On Saturday, he announced the FDA planned to send 10,000 doses of the antibiotic azithromycin and the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to New York.

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