New York – The state of New York, the world epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with 27,564 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, on Thursday added a fifth region out of a total of ten, that of Central New York, to to begin its economic reopening gradually, while the number of deaths at the state level continues to drop, with 157 deaths recorded on Wednesday.
In his daily conference, the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, stressed that it is the third consecutive day that the number drops to 200 and pointed out that the number of hospitalizations remains stable, with a slight rebound in four cases, and that intubations had dropped. .
With respect to the regions that have started their reopens (Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, North Country and Southern Tier), the governor said that the greatest responsibility will now fall on local administrations, which he asked to monitor the day numbers to day and react immediately if they start to be negative so that the return to normality is safe, and asked businesses and citizens of those areas to comply with the sanitary recommendations to avoid a flare-up.
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“We are at levels similar to those of the beginning of the pandemic,” said Cuomo, who also said that he had spoken with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to address the problems of state financing and ask him to accelerate certain payments that depend on the federal government. .
In this sense, Cuomo announced that the federal government would sign a $ 3.9 billion item that would be used to support the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which among other resources manages the New York City Metro network.
In addition, the Governor asked the United States Congress to speed up the approval of a tax relief law for all states that includes funds for state and local governments, for testing, as well as for essential services such as schools, hospitals, police and firefighters.
In this sense, he warned that if Congress does not comply with allocating those resources, the states would be forced to make cuts in these priority services at a time when “nobody wants to do that.”
“Washington must act intelligently and quickly. New York State has a $ 61 billion hole,” Cuomo said, adding that his position is not partisan but is shared by the National Association of Governors, where they are represented Democrats and Republicans, and urged to pass a relief bill of at least $ 500 billion.
Criticism of bailouts
He also asked to “learn” from what happened after the 2008 financial crisis and called not to make “unscrupulous bailouts” to certain companies, which in his opinion should be asked for certain requirements such as hiring the same number of employees that they had before of the pandemic, and monitor that some companies do not use the pandemic to carry out a restructuring.
“Any company that receives public money should hire the same employees. They should not expect citizens to subsidize their company,” Cuomo insisted.
Sanitary equipment
For the Democratic politician, one of the lessons to be learned from the pandemic is not to face such a situation again without basic materials for health personnel or with a strong dependence on China to obtain masks because it is, according to he opined, out of a question of national security.
“As a nation we cannot see ourselves in the same situation again,” he said, referring to the complexity of the international market to acquire protection material against the virus.
“I want to make sure that New York is going to lead the initiative to manufacture emergency medical equipment,” said Cuomo, who proposed $ 3 million in aid to those businesses that manufacture such medical equipment in the state and called for organizing through public-private collaboration for companies to achieve this.
According to the governor, manufacturing masks or gowns “is not the most technologically complicated thing” and indicated that the problem is usually the amount that is needed.
Increase in children with rare disease
The number of children hospitalized for a rare COVID-19-related condition affecting people between the ages of 1 and 21 and whose symptoms are similar to those of Kawasaki disease or “toxic shock” increased from 102 to 110.
Cuomo encouraged parents to report symptoms, which include fever, severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, red eyes, or rashes, among the most frequent.
