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.
Even though California's recreational Marijuana law went into effect today, much of the country still does not have medical or recreational legalization. On top of that, the Federal government's laws are vastly different from states that have legalized. Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and he joins Cheddar to give his take on how legalization will progress from here.
Even with California, the sixth biggest economy in the world, legalizing pot, incongruities in state and federal law hinder growth in the marijuana market. That's according to Paul Armentano, Deputy Director at NORML.
President Trump has returned from his holiday in Florida and is officially back to work. Congress is back in session tomorrow and there is a lot to get done. Lawmakers will be voting on many items like immigration, disaster relief, and more. Will the two sides of the aisle be able to work together, or will divisions hinder Washington?
The governor says Colorado learned that properly packaging edibles helps keep pot away from children.
Congress is heading back to work with a packed agenda ahead of the looming government shutdown. CRTV's Nate Madden and The Democratic Coalition's Jarad Geldner join Cheddar's roundtable to discuss what awaits lawmakers when they get back from their holiday break.
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President Donald Trump gave an impromptu with the New York Times Washington Correspondent Michael Schmidt at his Mar-A-Lago property Thursday. Alexander Heffner, Host of PBS' "The Open Mind," explains what this interview says about the relationship between Trump and the media.
President Trump left most of America wondering what he'll say next after an impromptu interview with the New York Times. Philip Wegmann, Commentary Writer for the Washington Examiner joins Cheddar to give his thoughts on the President's statement regarding the Russia probe.
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