Cuomo: All NY Labs Must Coordinate COVID-19 Testing With Government

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday issued an executive order for all state public and private labs to coordinate COVID-19 testing with the State Department of Health. As another 630 New Yorkers died overnight from the coronavirus, Cuomo said the state must prioritize diagnostic testing for public health and restarting the economy. Despite the devastating death toll, the governor said that the number of hospitalizations, admissions to the ICU, and the number of patients being intubated have declined across the state and officials are starting to look at the gradual process of reopening the state. That process, he said, can only occur with more testing.“We cannot do it without federal help,” Cuomo said.

He added that despite three federal bills addressing the coronavirus pandemic, New York has gotten “zero, zilch, nada in unrestricted aid” and called on the Trump administration for help. “The state should this, the state should this, the state should this. Yes. Well, what support have you given the states? None. I mean, how can that even be? How is it even plausible as a strategy? It doesn’t work,” he said.