NEW YORK (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticized President Donald Trump’s claim of “total” authority to reopen the nation’s virus-stalled economy, saying Tuesday he was talking more like a king than a president.
The Democratic governor criticized Trump’s assertion Monday that “when somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total.”
“His proclamation is that he would be king, that’s what a king is,” Cuomo said at his daily coronavirus briefing. “A king has total authority. That statement cannot stand.”
The Republican president made his comments after Cuomo and governors on both coasts announced multi-state compacts to coordinate reopening society amid the global pandemic.
New York has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with more than 200,000 confirmed cases. Cuomo said restarting the economy must be done in a smart, methodical manner or the hard-won gains of the past month could be quickly lost.
New Yorkers with COVID-19 continue to die at an unnerving pace even as the number of patients in hospitals level off. The 778 deaths recorded statewide Monday bring the total to 10,834 in about a month.
In a tweet Tuesday, Trump appeared to liken the governors to mutinous crew members in the movie “Munity on the Bounty.”
Cuomo said the president was “clearly unhappy.” But after taking aim at the president’s comments Tuesday in multiple TV appearances and during his state Capitol briefing, Cuomo said he would not engage in a fight with him.
“The president is clearly spoiling for a fight on this issue,” Cuomo said. “This is too important for anyone to play politics.”
Here are other developments in the coronavirus outbreak.
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MEDICAL CRUSH EASING
The total number of people hospitalized Monday was down slightly to 18,697, the first decrease since mid-March. Total hospitalizations have been flat recently, and Cuomo believes the state could be at a peak, or a plateau.
Still, more than 1,600 new COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Monday.
Meanwhile, New York City’s once-overwhelmed 911 system is now seeing a more normal volume of medical calls, another sign the crisis could be ebbing and that people are heeding messages to call only in a life-threatening emergency.
The fire department, which runs the city’s EMS system, said it received 3,932 calls requesting ambulances Sunday, down from a record high of 6,527 on March 30. The average volume last March and April was just over 4,000 calls.
Sunday was the sixth straight day that the city’s medical call volume was lower than the previous day.
The fire department said it’s too early to know exactly why volume has dropped.
At the peak, operators were answering four new calls a minute.
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MADE IN NEW YORK
New York City will move toward coronavirus self-sufficiency by starting production of virus test kits, face shields and surgical gowns, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
“Starting in a few weeks we will be producing here in New York City 50,000 test kits per week with components put together right here, with companies, universities, New York City workers right here building a brand new supply chain to feed this industry that will now develop in New York City,” de Blasio said, adding, “if we can go further, we’re going to build it up rapidly.”
State and city officials have stressed the need to greatly expand coronavirus testing before any relaxation of social distancing guidelines can be contemplated, and health care workers have complained throughout the virus pandemic of shortages of personal protective equipment like gowns and face shields.
De Blasio said eight city companies are now making 240,000 face shields a week and will ramp up to 465,000 by April 24 and to 620,000 soon after.
He said five companies are making 30,000 surgical gowns a week and the goal is more than 250,000 weekly.
De Blasio said the city will purchase 50,000 test kits a week from Indiana-based Aria-Diagnostics and additionally will start producing its own test kits.
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FUNERAL COSTS
Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked the federal government to help pay for funerals as the state’s COVID-19 death toll climbs.
The two Democrats appeared together in the hard-hit neighborhood of Corona, Queens, part of Ocasio-Cortez’s district, to ask the Federal Emergency Management Administration to approve disaster funeral assistance across New York.
“It’s bad enough people are losing their jobs, and don’t have food to eat, are separated from their families and loved ones,” Schumer said. “But to not be able to give a decent funeral and burial to someone who is near and dear to you is outrageous.”
Ocasio-Cortez said the coronavirus is “decimating an already vulnerable community” and funeral costs are one more burden.
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TRANSIT WORKER TRIBUTE
More than 4,000 trains, buses and ferry boats across the New York City plan to sound their horns in unison Thursday to honor transportation workers keeping the system running during the coronavirus crisis.
Each vehicle will give two one-second horn blasts at 3 p.m., the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said. The Port Authority, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak and the Staten Island Ferry are also participating.
The city’s commuter infrastructure has been operating at a reduced schedule, serving mainly to health care workers and other essential employees.
The MTA, which runs the city’s subways and buses, said 59 employees have died of coronavirus and more than 2,200 workers have tested positive for the disease.
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FORMER LAWMAKER DIES
Former Democratic state Assemblyman Richard Brodsky died last week of a heart attack and not of complications from the coronavirus as originally suspected. His daughter told The New York Times that the 73-year-old had shown symptoms consistent with COVID-19, but also had a heart condition. Test results returned after he died showed he did not have the disease. The Democrat represented parts of Westchester County from 1983 to 2010.
Villeneuve reported from Albany, N.Y. Michael Hill contributed from Albany.
