WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — They are the words New Yorkers have waited weeks to hear. "We're on the other side of the mountain", said Governor Andrew Cuomo Wednesday in his daily COVID-19 briefing.
Cuomo spoke to the media from the National Press Club in Washington DC following his meeting with President Donald Trump. Saying the decline is continuing, the governor said the state is now ready to move to the next phase. "We want to reopen the economy to make it stronger than ever before."
Hospitalizations, intubations and new cases continue to decline. However, the virus claimed the lives of 74 New Yorkers on Tuesday.
Cuomo had good things to say about his meeting with President Trump. The same could not be said about the governor's remarks about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) who have referred to federal funding for states like New York as 'bailouts'.
The Democratic governor says the funds are needed to help New York and others states who've taken the biggest economic hit from the COVID-19 crisis. "Stop abusing the states,New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts who bore the brunt of the Covid virus through no fault of their own. How do you tell one-third of the country to go to heck?"
As for talks with President Trump, Cuomo acknowledged that the two have their political differences, but had a good conversation. He says the President, a New Yorker himself, understood what the state needs. Cuomo said President Trump told him he would talk to his team and that he and Cuomo would talk again next week.