Governor Cuomo to Send President and First Lady a 'New York Cares' Get Well Package

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was a guest on WCBS 880 with Paul Murnane to discuss New York's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the interview, the Governor also said he is sending President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump a "New York Cares" get well package following the news they have contracted the novel coronavirus.

AUDIO is available here.

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

Paul Murnane: Thanks for your time. We understand that you've been on the phone with the White House today. Did it come up at all, the President's diagnosis?

Governor Cuomo: Good to be with you, Paul. Good to hear your voice. The White House did an invitation this morning, an email invitation, to join the President for a briefing this afternoon and on that briefing the Vice President got on the briefing call and said that the President asked the Vice President to do it because the President has announced that he has tested positive for COVID. He didn't have any further comment than that. The Vice President did the briefing.

Paul Murnane: So there is no new indication, no new information on the President's condition on that phone call that you're saying with the governors?

Governor Cuomo: No, there wasn't. I think, Paul, we've been through this enough times. Once you test positive for COVID they have to find out what strain of the virus you have. There's a mild strain and then there's a more severe strain. We've seen both. It seems that more of the recent cases tend to be more of a mild strain - that's anecdotal or maybe it's wishful thinking - but we hope that the President has a mild strain.

Politics aside, we can have political differences and Lord knows I have political differences with the President, and we're both New Yorkers, so we're not shy about speaking our mind. We wish him all very well, a speedy recovery both to him and the First Lady. This creates a lot of anxiety. I've gone through this in my family. I'm sure his children are worried, et cetera.

Speedy recovery and they're in our thoughts and prayers. We're going to be sending the President and First Lady a New York Cares package, just to give them some comfort as they go through this.

Paul Murnane: I want to move with the pockets of rising coronavirus numbers across New York. Are you considering, is it time for real stepped up enforcement and a get tougher approach on this in these areas in the city and in the suburbs where we see these numbers rising?

Governor Cuomo: It is, Paul, quite simply and I've told the local governments this. We have clusters in New York City, primarily in Brooklyn, but in Queens, Rego Park, Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, Nassau, Orange and Rockland. We've been talking about it for a number of days. This State has the lowest infection rate in the United States of America and we're very proud of that.

The way we've done that is by being disciplined and being united. I said to the local governments, look, this is not a public education effort anymore. There's nobody in New York City who hasn't heard the message "Wear a mask." I don't think anything has been better communicated that I can remember than wear a mask.

I need the local governments to do the enforcement and do the compliance. It sounds harsh, but look, you have your right to do with your life as you'd like. You don't have a right to jeopardize my health and this is not a joke. We see it again with the President who had a sophisticated operation around him. I visited the President in the White House. You had to be tested, you had to be screened and still he caught the virus.

It's no joke and this is the law. It's not just do us a favor please. It's the law and the gatherings in front of bars, religious gatherings that go over the allowable limits, people on buses or trains or on the sidewalk without a mask - they're violating the law. They should be ticketed.

Paul Murnane: How about local governments? I'll let you go after this final question. Is there some resistance, not just in New York City, but in the suburbs? Are you ready to kind of lower the hammer on some of these local governments if you sense that they're not going along with things?

Governor Cuomo: Yes, there's a resistance. Politicians like to be liked, they don't like to be in the situation where they're offending people with these compliance orders and tickets and, let's be honest, there are some people who don't want to wear a mask. They don't believe in it, they don't think COVID is a real problem. You have all sorts of political opinions now.

There's a reluctance on the part of local governments. I said to them, clearly, if you don't want to do it, I'll do it. I did do it. I stepped in the with the bars and the restaurants and the State did it. I don't have the resources to duplicate every police department in every part of the State. I said to them today, if you don't enforce the law, local government, you are violating the law and you'll be fined. I think they'll get the message.

If you don't stomp out the clusters, then it spreads. We've seen that. We've seen it around the country. We've seen it here at home. So it's for everyone's best interest and sometimes we have to be tough. Sometimes we have to be tough. That's life and that's life in the middle of a global pandemic. You don't do anyone favors by being soft. We've learned that.

Paul Murnane: Governor, we appreciate your time. We know you're very busy and we hope we can talk again with you soon.

Governor Cuomo: Pleasure is mine. Have a good weekend.