Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he is mandating in an executive order that private labs in New York state work together to develop testing for the coronavirus. He said he needs the federal government to coordinate and scale up testing to allow the economy to reopen sooner, but so far that is not occurring.
Cuomo also had some choice words for President Donald Trump, who live-tweeted criticism of Cuomo's daily briefing.
The governor continues to press for more monetary aid from the federal government. He wrote a joint letter to the president and Congress with Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, asking for $5 billion to help state governments pay for coping with the crisis.
Trump said Thursday that it's up to the states to determine when to reopen businesses and lift stay-at-home orders. Cuomo said if the states are doing all the work, then they need the funds to help them.
Cuomo's daily briefings often run 40 minutes to an hour in length; during Friday's briefing, Trump live-tweeted that Cuomo "should spend more time 'doing' and less time 'complaining.' "
The president also said that the federal government already gave New York hospital beds and ventilators that went unused.
....testing that you should be doing. We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
"Governor Cuomo should spend more time 'doing' and less time 'complaining.' Get out there and get the job done. Stop talking! We built you thousands of hospital beds that you didn't need or use, gave large numbers of Ventilators that you should have had, and helped you with testing that you should be doing. We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!" the president said in two tweets.
Earlier in the week, Cuomo had said Trump was spoiling for a fight, but that he chose not to argue with the president. Cuomo clearly was angered by the needling Friday.
"If he's sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work," Cuomo said.
Cuomo has repeatedly credited Trump and his administration for providing additional beds and ventilators, saying the reason that they did not need to be fully used is that New Yorkers cooperated with stay-at-home orders and flattened the curve of the infection.
But he said the federal government is just doing what it's supposed to do in a crisis.
"Thank you for participating in a modicum of federal responsibility in a national crisis," Cuomo said.
And the governor said the reason why he asked for the additional beds and equipment was because the Centers for Disease Control projected that they would be needed. He suggested, sarcastically, that the president should revise his role on the TV series "The Apprentice" and "fire" the head of the CDC as well as leaders of the White House coronavirus task force.
Cuomo said he's frustrated because he fears that without the federal government helping to coordinate the testing that's needed to reopen the economy, there will be a repeat of the chaos during the first phase of the pandemic, when he said the federal government was unprepared and hospitals struggled for beds and personal protective equipment.
"This is an important moment," Cuomo said. "If we don't have federal help on testing, that's a real problem, and I'm not going to go through the chaos that was created last time."
Cuomo addressed other issues in the briefing as well. There have been complaints from families with relatives in nursing homes that they have been unable to get information about their health conditions or whether there is COVID-19 in the facility. The governor said he is now ordering nursing homes to disclose that information to families.
