New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday provided his daily coronavirus update from the Javits Convention Center, which opened today as an emergency field hospital.
The governor said both the Javits Center and the USNS Comfort hospital ship, which docked in the city this morning, will serve patients dealing with non-coronavirus medical needs. That should leave New York City hospitals to serve as the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak.
While expressing gratitude for federal support the state has received, Cuomo stressed that the city is not an "anomaly" but rather a "canary in the coal mine" for what the rest of the state and country will soon experience.
"What you see us going through here, you will see happening all across this country," he said.
"Anyone who says this situation is a New York City-only situation is in a state of denial."
All but one county in the state of New York has a confirmed COVID-19 case, he added.
Collaboration has been complicated, however, by the fact that states are competing for the same stock of limited supplies.
"We're competing amongst ourselves. We're driving the prices up. When we started buying ventilators, they were under $20,000. The ventilators are now over $50,000 if you can find them," Cuomo said.
The governor echoed a message from Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier today emphasizing that New York would provide guidance and direct assistance to other areas once they, too, become hot zones.
The state's latest death toll from the virus now stands at 1,218, a jump of about 300 from Sunday. Cuomo said the jump correlates with an increasing number of patients who have died after prolonged periods of ventilators use, suggesting that patients with more serious cases are beginning to succumb to the disease.
In a bit of positive news, Cuomo reported that cases are now doubling at a slower rate than that had been, down from doubling every two days to every six days.
"While the overall number of cases is going up, the rate of doubling is actually down," Cuomo said.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Dec. 21, 2018.
As Cheddar reflects on 2018, we are profiling the most innovative, flamboyant, and often-controversial entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who delivered the year's most memorable moments in business. Of the CEO Class of 2018, who was crowned Biggest Flirt? Class Clown? Cheddar's Most Outspoken Award Goes to Tim Cook.
Stocks plunged on Thursday for the second day running, as the renewed threat of a government shutdown over the Christmas holiday weekend contributed to residual market weakness after the Fed's latest rate hike.
CEO Mary Barra made national headlines when General Motors announced in late November that 14,000 salaried and hourly workers would be cut for the sake of the company's growth. Backlash against Barra was swift; it populated the White House Twitter feed and echoed through the hall of Congress.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.
Facebook can add another problem to its tally: a disappointing update to a civil rights audit the company posted on Tuesday, just hours before The New York Times published an explosive report on the company's mishandling of user data. The audit has been a "black box," according to Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, one of the groups that has strongly criticized Facebook over civil rights issues on the platform.
Stocks plunged following the Federal Reserve's decision to hike interest rates for the fourth time this year, despite heavy criticism from President Trump that the central bank has been too aggressive in raising borrowing costs.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo may have radically changed his stance on marijuana ー but his former Democratic primary opponent Cynthia Nixon shouldn't be congratulated for his shift, according to New York State Assembly Health Committee chair Richard Gottfried. "On this particular issue, I don't think she gets any credit," Gottfried, who has been working on marijuana policy reform since the 70s, told Cheddar Wednesday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018.
Michael Bloomberg wants to be president, his former campaign manager Bradley Tusk told Cheddar on Tuesday. "Just putting all cards on the table: Mike would like to be president, Mike would be an excellent president," Tusk said.
