Governor Cuomo: "The way we have been doing this is we collect the most data of any state in the country. I like to say we have the smartest reopening plan. We do more testing than any other state the country. We do more testing than any country on the globe per capita. And we watch the hospitalization rate and we watch the transmission rate and we get to the end of a two week period. We give that to state department officials and we have a kitchen cabinet of global experts who have been doing this with other countries we have them go through the data, when they give us the green light, Solomon, then I give the green light. So for the regions we just did we collected the data through last night, they went through it this morning."
Cuomo: "We announced this afternoon that we were going ahead because county executives can be very good at a lot of things, governors can be very good at a lot of things, we are not medical professionals. We are not experts on how a virus communicates and replicates. So leave it to the experts and don't try to guess what is going to happen. Let's do it on the facts and the science. And when we get to the end of the period and they review the data - it's all good - we go ahead. But anything other than that is premature."
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo called into Spectrum Albany with Solomon Syed.
AUDIO is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available below:
Solomon Syed: Governor Andrew Cuomo on the phone right now, talk more about this, some of the latest developments in the Capital Region. Good evening to you, Governor. Thanks for joining.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you for having me, Solomon. It's my pleasure.
Solomon Syed: It's our pleasure. Governor, let's talk about that Phase 2 in five of these regions. Are you happy with the progress?
Governor Cuomo: Oh, I am happy and all New Yorkers in those regions should be happy because they made it happen, Solomon. You know, this is all a about what people do. This is now about government. If people are smart and they are responsible, and store owners are responsible, we can do this because we control the virus transmission at the end of the day. And we went through Phase 1, and we did very well and we had experts go through the numbers and they gave us the green light so we went to Phase 2 today.
Solomon Syed: Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy saying earlier today that he believes the Capital Region is on pace to meet that Phase 2 requirement next week. How do you see that?
Governor Cuomo: You know, I don't shave a crystal ball and I am not an expert on viral transmission. So the way we have been doing this is we collect the most data of any state in the country. I like to say we have the smartest reopening plan. We do more testing than any other state the country. We do more testing than any country on the globe per capita. And we watch the hospitalization rate and we watch the transmission rate and we get to the end of a two week period. We give that to state department officials and we have a kitchen cabinet of global experts who have been doing this with other countries who frankly did the closedown or reopening, many of them had to do another closedown after the reopening. So we have them go through the data, when they give us the green light, Solomon, then I give the green light. So for the regions we just did we collected the data through last night, they went through it this morning. We announced this afternoon that we were going ahead because county executives can be very good at a lot of things, governors can be very good at a lot of things, we are not medical professionals. We are not experts on how a virus communicates and replicates. So leave it to the experts and don't try to guess what is going to happen. Let's do it on the facts and the science. And when we get to the end of the period and they review the data - it's all good - we go ahead. But anything other than that is premature.
Solomon Syed: Okay, so you are talking there about getting the green light. We heard today from the Rensselaer County Executive Steven McLaughlin saying that he may try to push through maybe a yellow light or a red light with that and allow some businesses to reopen early. What are your thoughts on that?
Governor Cuomo: Well, it's not a county by county decision. And it is not up county law, it is state law. So, you go through a red light to get a ticket. I as the Governor, I am responsible for the state. I would never advise people to violate a federal law. You know somedays I would like to say, Solomon, don't pay your federal taxes because they raised our taxes. But if I tell you not to pay your federal taxes and you don't pay your federal taxes, you're going to go to jail, so I have no authority to do that. No county official has the authority. I understand local officials have different positions, politically, and politics is politics. I'm trying to stay away from the politics - this is not about Democrat or Republican. This is about life and death and let's act intelligently. We have a great process and its working and we brought down the curve in New York and we saved thousands and thousands of lives. So now is the time to stay away from politics, let's be smart, let's be united and let's just keep going. If we make no mistakes, the path is right and the arrows are pointed up.
Solomon Syed: Governor, the hardest hit area in the state, no question about it, the New York City area, but you said earlier today that you believe that New York City could be on track to begin phase one as soon as June 8th - that's pretty remarkable considering how things have been in New York.
Governor Cuomo: Well, look, Solomon, this is the story of life, right? We got knocked on our rear end, especially in New York City, not because we did anything wrong by the way but because the virus came from Europe, not from China, everybody was saying, "China, China, China," we were looking to the West for the virus to come from China. The virus came from Europe, came from the East. January, February, March, 3 million people come from Europe and landed at our airports and brought the virus. Alright, that's where it came from and we had nothing to do with that but that was the situation we were presented. We had the worst situation, I think it brought out our best, we have the smartest reopening plan and June 8th, we're going to reopen New York City phase one, all the numbers are in the right direction. And I'm very proud of it again because this is what New Yorkers did, this is not state government, this is not any government. This is people acting responsibly, thinking about each other, rising to the challenge and nobody does that as well as New Yorkers.
Solomon Syed: New York Tough. Governor, really quick - I've got about a minute left and hopefully it's enough time to get your answer on this one. You're a big sports fan like I am, I know you've talked a lot about it, up here in the Capital Region, the Saratoga Race Course, a big economic engine, opening day scheduled for July 16th. Do you think we'll have a racing season in Saratoga?
Governor Cuomo: Look, I've said to Saratoga and all the tracks, race tracks, car race tracks, Watkins Glen, all the sports team, I said, play. If we can't get an arena or a stadium filled yet, play. Run the races, let's watch them, give us something to do. Don't take sports season away from us and as soon as we can get people in the seats we will.
Solomon Syed: Governor Cuomo, big thank you for taking time on your Friday evening to join us, we appreciate it.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you for having me, Solomon and thank you for what you're doing. I watch you, I'm a fan and you do a great public service.
Solomon Syed: It's an honor, Governor, thank you for saying that. We appreciate it.
Governor Cuomo: Thank you, Solomon.
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