Coronavirus: New York Gov. Cuomo Warns of ‘Major Crisis’ at Hospitals

Appearing Monday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) warned a “major crisis” at hospitals in his state is weeks away as healthcare workers scramble to treat patients with coronavirus.

A partial transcript is as follows: 

KATTY KAY: You’ve seen the pictures from Europe of countries like Italy and Spain on near-total lockdown. Do you think we’re going to get to that stage here in the United States? Do you think you’re going to get to that stage in New York City? In Rome, at the moment, you cannot go out in the streets unless you have a special pass that lets you go out into the streets. Police will stop you and check your paperwork. Is that where a state like New York is heading?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: I hope not and I don’t believe so. I don’t even believe you can do that in this society. But, I’m going to be announcing more actions today. We closed the schools yesterday, making sure there’s childcare for healthcare workers, because again, this all comes down to hospital capacity. Some of these states have closed schools and made no capacity for childcare and now you see healthcare workers and nurses not showing up. Closing schools, closing bars, closing restaurants, closing mass gatherings, we’ll be doing more of that. Right now, the numbers are continuing to spike, so you have to ratchet down on the density control if you’re going to get those numbers anywhere near where you can manage them in the hospital system. For me, my priority is turning to the hospital system because that’s where we’re going to have a major crisis and it’s weeks away.