On Saturday, during a COVID-19 press briefing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo stressed that politics must be kept out of this crisis, and commended President Trump for his responsiveness to the needs of the state.
Speaking about the question of reopening the economy, Cuomo said: “The best thing we have done to date is we have kept politics out of the discussion.”
“Even though this is a hyper-partisan time; even though we’re in the middle of a presidential election; even though it’s one of the ugliest political periods I can recall,” the governor said, “we have kept politics out of this crisis, and I’ve worked very hard to do that.”
Cuomo then applauded President Trump, despite their political differences:
I’ve worked very hard with the President of the United States. We’ve had our political differences in the past, no doubt. There’s also no doubt that I’ve worked hand-in-glove with the president here, and he has been responsive to New York and responsive to New York’s needs, and he’s done it quickly, and he’s done it efficiently.
I’ve literally had conversations with him in the morning where he turned around a decision by that afternoon. I’ve been in the federal government. I know what it’s like to make a decision, and he has really responded to New York’s needs.
So, keep politics out of it. Focus on government, and focus on policy, and keep politics out of it.
During the press briefing, Cuomo also delivered good news and bad news pertaining to the state’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Single-day hospitalizations dropped to 85 on Friday, their lowest number since March 16. The overall trajectory of hospitalizations continues to tick downward. The three-day average for hospitalizations is also down.
The rate of single-day ICU admissions is bobbing up and down, and saw in increase on Friday. However, the three-day average for ICU admissions appears to show a downward trend.
Cuomo commented on this, saying, “This is a little deceptive because at one time, hospitals had discrete ICU wards or ICU beds. Effectively, now in a hospital, all the beds are ICU beds. It’s like the entire hospital is turned into an ICU facility. So this distinction is actually – I don’t know how enlightening this is.”
That said, turning to single-day intubations, there is very promising data. After several days on an approximate plateau, single-day intubations dropped precipitously on Friday, continuing an apparent overall downward trajectory.
The single-day death toll remains on a high plateau, with 783 New Yorkers passing away on Friday.
- April 5: 599
- April 6: 731
- April 7: 779
- April 8: 799
- April 9: 777
- April 10: 783
The governor noted that despite this apparent death rate stabilization, the numbers are still “horrific.”
“Terrible news is the number of lives lost. 783 yesterday. That is not an all-time high, and you can see that the numbers [are] somewhat stabilizing, but it is stabilizing at an horrific rate,” Cuomo said. “These are just incredible numbers depicting incredible loss and pain.”