New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo begged healthcare workers from other states to 'come and help us now' as the coronavirus death toll for...
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo begged healthcare workers from other states to 'come and help us now' as the coronavirus death toll for the state of New York rose to 1,218 - an increase of 253 in a day - and the number of cases rose to more than 66,000.
Cuomo spoke at the Javits Center, a makeshift hospital in Manhattan that will begin accepting patients on Monday.
There are 2,500 beds there and the USNS Comfort - a Navy ship which docked in New York Harbor on Monday morning - will also accept another 1,000 patients. None will be being treated there for coronavirus; instead, the field hospitals will accept patients with other illnesses in order to free up the beds in the struggling hospital system.
Cuomo made an impassioned plea that the 'front line of the battle' is in the hospitals. Already, doctors and nurses are becoming overwhelmed and overworked because of the virus and the city needs reinforcements.
Gov. Cuomo is calling on healthcare workers to come to New York to help alleviate the crisis on the healthcare system
A member of the Brooklyn Hospital Center helps a person who was tested for COVID-19 put an object in a biohazard bag
'The front line of the battle is in the healthcare system. That is where this battle is fought. It's that simple. You know exactly where the enemy is going to attack,' he said.
He called the doctors and nurses 'the soldiers' of the war on coronavirus, then went on: 'We need to recruit more healthcare workers. Share healthcare professionals, within this state and within this country, as governor of NY I am asking healthcare professionals across the country; if you don't have a crisis in your community, please come help us in NY now.
'We need relief. We need relief for nurses working 12 hour shifts one after the other after the other. Please, and we will return the favor.'
Elsewhere in his press conference, Cuomo rebuked President Trump for politicizing the incident.
He called on the president to put politics aside, calling it 'inappropriate' to be exhibiting partisanship at a time when the entire nation is in the throes of a crisis.
There have been repeated calls for Cuomo to toss his hat into the ring for the looming November presidential election. He dismissed the notion on Monday, saying he had 'never' planned on running and does not plan to now.
The Javits center was constructed in five days and now has the capacity for 2,500 patients. There are also makeshift field hospitals elsewhere in the city, including one in Central Park.
Cuomo praised the National Guard troops and US Army Corps of Engineers for building it so quickly and said: 'This is a transformation I don't think anyone could anticipate. I want to thank the government for everything they've done.
'It will become operational today receiving the first few patients, we'll start to run the facility then take it from there.'
He is warning other states against falling into the trap of thinking they are immune to the virus.
'There is no American that is immune. What is happening to New York is not an anomaly. In many ways, it's the canary in the coal mine.
'What you see us going through here, you will see happening all across this country. We believe that we're dealing with this pandemic at a level intensity that no one has seen before,' he said.
'We've dealt with some really deadly illnesses. We dealt with the Ebola virus, that's not what this is. It tends to be the people who are acutely ill who have the most problems.
'The situation is painfully clear now; there's no question as to what we're dealing with there's no question to grief or loss of life. There's no question of what we must do,' he said.
The first thing was public response and staying at home. Cuomo fumed that he was still seeing 'too many people' in the streets of New York City.
A patient is loaded into an ambulance in New York City as the coronavirus pandemic exploded
'Stay at home. When I issued the stay-at-home order, it wasn't, "it would be nice if you did." Stay at home! If you leave the house, you're exposing yourself to danger and others to danger.
'I know the isolation can be boring and oppressive. It is better than the alternative. Stay at home. That is the best option. If you are out, no proximity. 6ft distancing.
'You want to stay away from places that are dense. Still, in New York City, you have too many places with too much density. I don't know how many different ways to make the same point,' he said.
All of the city's hospitals, whether they are public or private, will now work together to share resources and supplies.
The Navy ship the USNS Comfort arriving in New York City on Monday bringing with it 1,000 more hospital beds to New York's crippled system
The Navy ship arriving in New York City on Monday morning bringing with it 1,000 hospital beds
Cuomo said the entire country 'had been playing catch up from day one' and that others needed to start planning ahead now for what come their way.
'If you wait to prepare for the storm, it is too late. You have to prepare before the storm hits you. How do you know when you're doing to get there? You don't. There's no crystal ball but there is science, data, health professionals who have studied this virus.
'We now have months of data. Listen and follow the data,' he said.
He shot back at President Trump for suggesting that masks and vital pieces of protective equipment were going 'out the back door' in New Jersey and said the president 'did not understand the basic concept of planning'.
'We are creating a stockpile. For someone to say, "well the warehouse has equipment in it, you shouldn't be using it today"... that defies the basic concept of planning and the basic operation that we have to have working not just in the state but in the country.
'If you are not preparing for the apex, you are missing the entire point of the operation. It is a fundamental blunder to only prepare for today.
'That's why, in some ways, we are where we are. We've been behind the virus from day one.
'You have the scientists and data projections showing you the curve. Prepare for the high point of the curve and do it now. When are you going to do it, the night before?' he said.
Cuomo also dismissed the notion that he would run for the Democratic presidential nomination, as many have urged him to, and said it was neither in his ambitions in the past nor on his mind now.
'As far as the president's comment about having a political contest with me - I am not engaging the president in politics. My only goal is to engage him in partnership. This is no time for politics. I am not going to get into a political dispute with the president, I'm not running for president I was never running for president, I said from day one, I'm not running for president now. I just want partnership to deal with this.
'If you're doing the right thing by NY I'll say it. If he's doing the wrong thing, I'll say it. But I'm not going to engage in politics. It's inappropriate, counter-productive and anti-American. Forget the politics. We have a national crisis. We are at war.
'There is no red and blue. It's red white and blue. So let's get over it and lead by example,' he said.
Earlier, he called for people to abandon politics, partisanship and division, saying: 'There is no time for that, not in this state, not in this nation.
'This is a deadly serious situation and frankly it's more important than politics and partisanship, if there is division at this time, the virus will defeat us.
'If there was ever a moment for unity, this my friends is it.'
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