New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday said he finally thinks the state has “the beast on the run” even as other places see an increase in coronavirus cases.
“I feel for the first time, we’re actually ahead of it,” Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said at his daily COVID-19 briefing. “We’re making the number of cases go down.”
“We reopen irresponsibly, you will see that infection number go straight up,” he said.
Mr. Cuomo said hospitalizations and intubations continue to decline.
He said 216 people died in his state Thursday — down from 231 on Wednesday, though the governor was hoping for a faster decline.
The coronavirus has infected over 327,000 people in New York state, killing 20,800. It is by far the hardest-hit state in the nation.
There have been 1.2 million infections and over 75,000 deaths in the U.S.
The governor blamed the high infection rate in New York on the 3 million people who traveled in from Europe from December until mid-March, when President Trump decided to ban travel from the continent.
“The virus wasn’t going to stay in China and wait for us to deal with it in China,” Mr. Cuomo said. “Nobody was saying, ’Beware of people from Europe.’”
“We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Mr. Cuomo said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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