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.
Democrats are focused on Tuesday's primaries in North Carolina and Ohio as part of a sweeping effort to flip the House in the midterm elections in November, says Meredith Kelly a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The legislature of the historically conservative state killed a bill that would have made almost 97 percent of abortions illegal. "I think if we put up a bill that says that Roe v Wade doesn't apply in South Carolina, there's not really a chance that a single court is going to let that bill go into effect," says Democratic State Senator Brad Hutto.
Kareem Burke, who founded Roc-A-Fella Records with Jay-Z, produced two films at the Tribeca Film Festiva that he hopes will encourage a discussion of prison reform.
A recent investigation by the Washington Post found an additional 27 women who say the former CBS anchor sexually harassed them. And, in some cases, when these women raised concerns with managers their complaints weren't elevated, says Amy Brittain, the reporter who broke the story.
The House minority leader announced she would run for speaker again if Democrats win the November midterm elections. But some in her party worry that she has now become a "boogeyman for Republicans" and could turn into a liability for the Dems.
The asylum seekers from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala who reached the U.S./Mexico border this week, now face an uncertain future with many bureaucratic steps that could take months, if not years.
The nation's capital has complicated laws that make possession legal but don't allow selling marijuana. That has led to a rise in pop-up shops and events to provide access to the drug, said Lisa Scott, founder of edibles company Bud Appetit.
The big question that surrounds the Colorado Democrat as he nears the end of his final term is "will he or won't he?" But he tells Cheddar he just wants to stay focused on his current job and "finish strong."
The rapper's recent swing to the right has left many speculating about whether he's got the White House in his sights. "I could see him trying," said Brande Victorian, the managing editor of MadameNoire.
The former Microsoft CEO says that regulating how tech companies use data will provide a framework in which to work and actually enable growth. "When you're in a time of uncertainty, and you don't know what the rules are, that's when it's toughest to innovate," Ballmer tells Cheddar's Jon Steinberg.
