Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Calls into 1010 Wins Radio

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo called into 1010 WINS Radio with Susan Richard.

AUDIO is available here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available below:

Susan Richard: Are you with us, Governor?

Governor Cuomo: Yes, I am. How are you, Susan?

Susan Richard: I'm terrific. So this sounds like a good plan to shut down the subways on the overnights to get those trains disinfected every night which is what you ordered the MTA to do. Are you satisfied that this is going to get the job done?

Governor Cuomo: Yes, I am. It's a bold undertaking, Susan. You know so many of the things that we have to do in this situation we've never done before but necessity is the mother of invention. We have essential workers who are the heroes of this entire situation - the nurses, the doctors, the food delivery people, the police officers. They need this subway system - the buses, trains - to get to work and we have to be able to say to them they're safe and they're clean. This virus can live on a surface for a number of days so the right thing to do is to disinfect all the trains every night which, when you think about it, is just a daunting undertaking. We've never disinfected like this before up but we have to do it and closing down the ridership from 1:00 to 5:00 will give us an opportunity to do it. The ridership is way down anyway, about 90 percent down so we can provide transportation for people from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. but it will allow us to disinfect the trains and the MTA is stepping up and I applaud them for it.

Susan Richard: Well this all came together relatively quickly and before that there was some finger-pointing between the City and the MTA about who is responsible for the homeless in particular. How smoothly was it to get everybody on the same page?

Governor Cuomo: Look, Mayor de Blasio, the MTA and I are all together on this. It is a joint effort because the whole transportation system is a joint effort. The MTA involves the State and the City. The NYPD do the security for the system so, and to do something like this everybody has to work together. It's never been done before. We've never closed down the subway system. So when you just start to think about it, every subway opening has to be protected, then you have to figure out what chemicals you use, what equipment you use. The homeless have to be taken off the train to do this obviously. You can't disinfected the train if you have homeless people on it. The Mayor pointed out rightfully so that it will now provide an opportunity to do outreach to the homeless because nobody wants them sleeping on the trains in the first place. It's not in their best interest. So it's massive and it's a little frightening in how massive it is but everybody is working together and we'll get it done.

Everything we're doing here we've never done before. We've never done this level of testing. We've never done this level of tracing. New Yorkers have never been this cooperative where their whole lives have been disrupted but you know New Yorkers do what they have to do and we will do what we have to do.

Susan Richard: Let's talk a little bit about the mechanics of this. Number one, will the MTA need to increase staffing to disinfect every train every day, and secondly, to get essential workers free transportation above ground - how is that going to work out? If I'm an essential worker, I need a ride in the overnight, who do I contact, what do I do?

Governor Cuomo: First of all, it's 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. So it is the low level of ridership during that period . The MTA will be operating buses ,will be operating a commuter vans, dollar vans and in the case where they don't have a route available they will be doing for-fire vehicles and Uber, Lyft, et cetera, so they have a plan that will still even for those few hours, people can get where they need to go, and then on the cleaning we have not new workers - we have the workers who are doing it. It's a totally different way of doing it. You need different chemicals, you know, they don't spray down normally the walls, all the corners, you know, it's anywhere that a person could touch when you think about it. It's wherever where somebody sneezes or coughs. It's wherever the droplets go. So you have to spray down the whole interior of the car. And that's never been done before but they've been working on it and we've been talking to other transit companies around the world, and there are new chemicals available, so, they going to do it. It won't be easy but they're going to do it.

Susan Richard: And so, will we be looking to the mayor to announce the specifics of who an essential worker should call if they need for-hire vehicle?

Governor Cuomo: The MTA will take about a week to actually implement the plan, which for this kind of plan is lightning fast, Susan. The MTA will then put on their website what routes they have and where they have for-hire vehicles available.

Susan Richard: And so what about the cost, A, and how long do you think this will last?

Governor Cuomo: You know, how long will it last? You tell me when the pandemic ends, I'll tell you how long it lasts. We're doing this because of the virus. When the virus is gone, we can get back to normal in so many ways and everybody wanted to be tomorrow. But I don't think anyone has a crystal ball and can tell you exactly when. The cost will be paid by the MTA. We're going to have cost issues at the MTA. But we're going to have cost issues for the city, for the state all across the board. You know when you turn off the economy the way we did, you have economic ramifications to every government, to every household. So, we'll figure that out. But first things first, you know, stone to stone across the morass. My Italian grandfather used to say if you have your health, you can figure anything else out. If you have your health, you can figure anything else out. Let's make sure we're safe and we're healthy and we'll figure out the rest, we always do, Susan.

Susan Richard: So on a much lighter note, while I have you on the phone I must ask you this. I'm not sure if you saw a professional matchmaker in the city did a survey of 2,000 of her female clients, and you and your brother are on the most wanted list for single ladies in New York City as the most desirable. So I'm just wondering if you had any comment about that.

Governor Cuomo: Well Susan, I did not see that, but now that you raise it, most wanted eligibility, my brother is married. I am not married, so I don't think he would qualify as eligible. However, I am eligible.

Susan Richard: Well I just want to say, we're both single Sagittarius from Queens, I'm just saying, just saying, just putting it out there, just saying.

Governor Cuomo: Sounds good, to me. It all started in Queens, Susan.