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.
Enrique Fernández-Toledo, Director of the Puerto Rico Initiative at the Center for American Progress, explained why an accurate death toll from Hurricane Maria took so long to be announced.
Anand Giridharadas, author of "Winners Take All" and a former reporter for the New York Times, believes that the United States' encouragement and support of charitable giving has disenfranchised the working class.
Katie Fox, assistant director for the National Preparedness Directorate at FEMA, joined Cheddar to offer specific ways Americans should prepare for disasters, even if they don't live in hurricane zones.
Natural disasters affected 15 percent of the U.S. population in 2017, often in places unaccustomed to dealing with nature's fury.
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Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Cheddar he thinks it's a mistake for Google to send only its lawyer to next week's Congressional hearings. He also said Pres. Trump's comments about Google don't make sense.
We break down what primary election results in Flordia and Arizona mean for the upcoming midterm elections. President Trump steps up his criticism of Google and other big tech companies. Amazon is reportedly planning to a launch a free, ad-supported video streaming app. And we sit down with Ash Cash to get his take on why Kanye West might actually have some worthwhile career advice.
Republican Bob Hugin told Cheddar he's challenging Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey for his seat, because he was morally offended by the corruption charges against the current Senator -- Menendez's trial ended in a hung jury. Down by as much as 17 points early in the race, Hugin is now polling within 6 points of his opponent.
Education Sec. Betsy Devos's idea to use federal money to arm teachers is "insane," said Randy Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. "I cannot believe I'm actually talking about this," she said.
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Rep.Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) released a report titled "Earn Less, Pay More," that highlights the cost discrepancies between women's and men's products. She spoke to Cheddar about her findings on Women's Equality Day.
