Schumer Blames New York Coronavirus Delays on Trump

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said delays in social distancing to combat coronavirus in New York on President Donald Trump.

Host Jake Tapper asked, “So, let me ask you a question because you’re coming to us live this morning from one of the epicenters of coronavirus in the world, New York. Democrats have been very critical of how long it took President Trump to take serious action in the fight against coronavirus. But Dr. Thomas Frieden, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, he told The New York Times that if New York State and New York City had adopted social distancing, physical distancing a week or two earlier, the death toll in New York could have been reduced by anywhere from 50 to 80%. Didn’t New York politicians drop the ball here, too?”

Schumer said, “Well, look, I think our governor and our mayor have done a great job. I  think most of America agrees. It’s very hard when you don’t have the federal cooperation, when you have the president early on saying it’s a hoax or it will go away or don’t worry about it, to get things done. I think our state and our city have done a terrific, terrific job, given that we were the epicenter.”

Tapper said, “San Francisco ordered schools closed on March 12th. Ohio did the same with five confirmed cases. On March 15th, De Blasio ordered New York City schools to close with 329 cases. A New York statewide stay-at-home order was announced March 20th, a day after California. You don’t think more could have been done earlier? More states were taking action.”

Schumer said, “Look, again, we were the epicenter. There was so much to do. Getting ventilators so people wouldn’t die was important. Getting the PPE for the health care workers was important. There were many things that were very, very important. And as I said, I think both Cuomo and De Blasio get very high marks for how they’ve handled this.”

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