Governor Cuomo: "Young people can get coronavirus. That's one of the other myths, young people don't get it. Young people do get it and young people can transfer it and you can wind up infecting someone, and possibly killing someone, if you're exposed to it."
Cuomo: "These pictures of young people on beaches, these videos of young people saying, this is my spring break, I'm out to party, this is my time to party - this is so unintelligent and reckless I can't even begin to express it."
Cuomo: "The risk does not justify the reward."
Earlier today during a coronavirus briefing, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo issued a call on young people to understand the risks around coronavirus and do what is best for the public health.
VIDEO of the Governor's call on young people is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the Governor's call on young people is available here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript is available below:
Governor Cuomo: "To the younger people in our great state and in our great society - and that's why I invited our special guest here today, Michaela - my grandfather Andrea, my grandfather on my father's side, his name was Andrea, I'm named for my grandfather, Andrew, Italian American immigrant, when I was young-ish - sixteen, seventeen, eighteen - and I would do something that he didn't like he would just look at me and he would say, we grow too soon old and too late smart. I would say, what does that mean, grandpa? Is that criticism? We grow too soon old, too late smart.
These pictures of young people on beaches, these videos of young people saying, this is my spring break, I'm out to party, this is my time to party - this is so unintelligent and reckless I can't even begin to express it.
I had a conversation with my daughter about this. I'm Governor of the state. I can order a quarantine of 10,000 people but I can't tell my daughter to do anything. All right? And I have to be careful because there's almost an inverse response to a direct action.
But I did say to all three of them from as soon as they could crawl, I used one line. What is the one line I used to say?"
Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo: "Risk, reward."
"Risk, reward. Risk, reward. Just pose the question. I couldn't offer an answer because whatever answer I would offer they would do the other.
Risk, reward. It makes no sense to go expose yourself to these conditions and expose other people. Expose other people.
Michaela, was graduating this year and her school closed to online courses. So she's not going to have the graduation. We're going to have a big party at the appropriate time. We don't know what that time is going to be, if it's going to be 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months. But, at the first opportunity, we're going to have a big party, so that's going to happen. But she was deprived of the last year and the last few months of college which I am sure were very intense study period and that's what she's deprived of that intense study period of those last few weeks. I remember those last few weeks, a lot of studying. But, that's a shift in life. But she was going to take a vacation on spring break and go with friends and take a trip and risk, reward. Luckily, she made the right decision and I'm proud of her for that. No prompting from me, besides the question: risk, reward.
What these people are doing is the risk does not justify the reward. They're putting themselves at risk. Young people can get coronavirus. That's one of the other myths, young people don't get it. Young people do get it and young people can transfer it and you can wind up infecting someone, and possibly killing someone, if you're exposed to it. Risk, reward."
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