Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress During COVID-19 Pandemic

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo updated New Yorkers on the state's progress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

VIDEO of today's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format 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:

Good morning. From my far right, Gareth Rhodes, Beth Garvey, Commissioner Zucker, to my left Melissa DeRosa, Robert Mujica. Good morning everyone. Today is day 342. These have been the longest 342 days of my life and I think most New Yorkers would say that. Most people who live in New Jersey would say that.

This has been an extraordinarily difficult, stressful period and you really saw people rise to the occasion. We are working on three priorities: rebuilding and recovery, vaccination, and controlling COVID.

To rebuild and recover we need help from the federal government. This has been a national pandemic. It's a national economic crisis and no state can recover on its own and we need federal help and it's in the nation's best interest to help the states recover.

What you go state and local relief has been debated for over a year. The prior administration was against providing states and localities with relief. President Biden said when he was running for election that if elected he would provide state and local relief. He was true to his word. He proposed $350 billion. It was accepted by the House, it was accepted by the Senate, so this is really good news. We've been waiting a long time for it. How the federal government ever thought the nation was going to recover if the states did not recover was always beyond me. The federal government is only a compilation of the states. You can't have a federal recovery without a state recovery but President Biden stepped up and did what he said he was going to do.

Now the question is fairness in the distribution of the $350 billion. That $350 billion goes to Congress. They'll come up with a formula to distribute the $350 billion and that's the next chapter in this story, what is the fair distribution of the $350 billion, and i believe that it is factually inarguable but that New York, New Jersey, Connecticut paid a higher price for COVID than other states and other parts of this country. That is just a fact. COVID came to United States from Europe, not from china, and those flights landed in New York and New Jersey and they populated the tristate region. That's why we had the explosion in the numbers early on. That's why we had deaths here before they even had COVID tests, because the virus was coming for three months in the federal government had no idea. It was negligence by the federal government and when you talk about fairness, the federal government should allocate funds in a way that is fair and fair to this crisis. When a state gets hit by a hurricane that state gets relief. It's not that every state gets relief. The places that paid the highest price with the emergency, and our state and our region paid the highest price for the emergency.

We also need fairness in the tax policy. What happened during the Trump administration is it was highly political and they used taxes to actually hurt certain states and take from certain states.

They took tax money from New York, New Jersey, other Democratic states and they transferred it to Republican states. That's what the quote/unquote SALT provision was all about. SALT is technical and confusing, state and local taxes. But they for the first time ever taxed the taxes that people pay. It was the first double taxation in history and it was a pure redistribution of wealth, saying we're going to take from the richer states and give to the poor states. They took from New York, they took from New Jersey, they took from Connecticut, they took from California, and they redistributed that money to Republican states. We still have an open litigation on it.

So we say to the Congress now, be fair. Repair the damage that was done with a hyper-political administration that preceded President Biden and be fair in the distribution of the COVID relief funds and fair is to distribute the COVID relief funds proportionate to the damage of COVID. That's the next step. Repeal SALT because every day that SALT is still in place, you have people paying more in taxes that they shouldn't be paying, and it hurts this state and it hurts other states that were victims of the SALT attack and distribute the COVID relief proportionate to COVID relief.

I want to welcome our friend and our neighbor, great colleague of mine, someone who we've worked hand and glove with all through this. Long, long year that really tested all of us and tested government, tested our individual strength to the core, but you got to see what people were made of and I got to be in the trenches with Governor Murphy and i can tell you that this is the kind of person you want to be in the foxhole with. He's been a great neighbor, a great friend, and an extraordinary public servant and I'm pleased to be with him today. Governor Murphy good to see your face.

Governor Murphy: Good to see you, Governor Cuomo. Thank you very much for having me on today and same right back to you, period, full stop, not just for these 342 days that takes my breath away, but for the past three years since I've had the honor of serving as governor of New Jersey. I could not have had, we could not have had as a state a better partner across the Hudson then you and your team representing the Empire State, everything from tax fairness to battling the virus. People say, gosh, we don't see you, you guys as visibly with each other as we did in the spring and early summer. That may be true but I want to echo what you said. The partnership with you personally, with your team continues as strong as it has ever been, and it has been invaluable and that partnership has saved lives without question on both sides of the Hudson. I want to just echo very briefly two points that you raised, Andrew.

Number one, the state and local aid, we desperately need it and I won't repeat your great comments in terms of not just the need which is inarguable but also the way that the need should be apportioned. We were clobbered with and Connecticut and Ned Lamont done a great job there and the metro New York region and that must be taken into not only getting the state and local over the goal line which I know President Biden is committed to. I spoke with Speaker Pelosi earlier in the week. The great news is the leadership in Congress gets this, but also the way that it is apportioned.

And then secondly repealing the cap on the state local tax deduction, which was done as you suggest not for any practical purpose, but completely based on politics and New York and New Jersey were already disproportionately giving more Washington than we get back from Washington to begin with. Also we're happy to do that if it's a fair deal but this deduction cap made that deal a very unfair deal, double taxation to subsidize other parts of the country ahead of our region, prioritizing the biggest corporations over working families, so it is high time that this thing gets taken off the books. The longer it stays on, the more people are going to get hurt. I think in New Jersey alone, Governor, I believe it's been an increment of $3 billion out of the pockets of our homeowners in the state. It's high time we got this thing off the books. I'm honored to be working on that with you and on so many other fronts and thank you again for your extraordinary partnership and leadership.

Governor Cuomo: Governor, it's been my pleasure and it really has been, you know, so frenetic that we haven't had a chance to go back and study or analyze. But I feel the same way. I couldn't have had a better partner and if our delegations lock arms on this appropriation under $350 billion and how it's distributed and if they lock arms on the repeal of SALT which by the way every representative of New Jersey and New York stood up when SALT was passed and every one of them said it was unfair. Every one of them said it needed to be repealed. So now it's just a question of when and our point is time is of the essence. We'll get through this we'll be the better for it and I want to thank you personally for everything you've done.

Governor Murphy: Same right back to you, Andrew. God bless you.

Governor Cuomo: Thank you. God bless you, Phil. Thank you. Governor Murphy mentioned the cost. Our cost per year of just SALT is over $12 billion dollars. Our cost per day is $ 34 million dollars. Every day that SALT is not repealed is another $34 million that is taken from the taxpayers of this state. Think about that, and that's why time is of the essence. $34 million dollars a day, New Yorkers are spending - and that's why I focus the way I focus and that's why we're going to continue to keep the pressure on until SALT is repealed.

Let's talk about controlling COVID. Statewide positivity rate, 4.3. Statewide deaths, 153. They're in our thoughts and prayers. Hospitalizations down, ICU up 10, intubations up 14.

Percent of hospitalizations by region, Long Island, Long Island, Long Island. Every part of the state is down. This is again, we target the highest percentages and Long Island in terms of hospitalizations. Positivity, it's Long Island and the Hudson Valley. In New York City, it's still the Bronx. We have made good progress in Staten Island and I want to thank them very much because Staten Island was disproportionately high for a long period of time. More people got positive, tested positive, more people were hospitalized in Staten Island. But that's turned around so I want to thank the people of Staten Island and we are focusing on the Bronx.

The numbers overall continue to decline, what we call the post-holiday surge. We're now down to 4.6. We were 7.9. It's the lowest daily positivity since November 28, so that takes us just to about Thanksgiving when people started to gather, started to celebrate, and we started to see that number go up, so we've flattened the curve a second time. Hospitalizations are down, lowest level since January 1, so congratulations to New Yorkers. They rallied, they pulled together and changed their behavior and they changed the curve.

The curve is determined by behavior and New Yorkers once again rose to the occasion. We've been talking about vaccinations. We're over 2 million, 2.2 million, 1.7 first doses 495,000 second doses. We have used 99.2 percent of the dosages that we have received. Who's counting? We're counting. That's why it's 99.2 percent. That is obviously just about using all the doses we have received. We now wait for the next week's allocation. But this is where we want to be. We want to use everything that we've received and get it into people's arms as soon as possible and that's what we're doing and then we're reliant on the supply and the more supply we get the more we can vaccinate. The Biden administration is working very hard to increase that supply. They have increased that supply. But the more they increase the supply the more we can actually vaccinate.

Hesitancy is a major obstacle in our path. Hesitancy is a new term for people who don't want to receive the vaccine. They're skeptical. They're cynical about the vaccine and they're not willing to take it. All the polling data has shown that you have a higher rate of hesitancy in Black and Latino communities. Association for a Better New York did a poll, recent one, but it said again, White populations more willing to take the vaccine than black or Hispanic New Yorkers.

What drives the differential? It's difference of opinion in the effectiveness of the vaccine, what are the side effects, distrust of the health care system and distrust of government. Well, the Trump administration approved. Yeah, well I don't trust the Trump administration. I have that conversation 10 times a day. Yes, it was approved by the Trump administration. It was also approved by the New York State Department of Health and New York State doctors who have been studying it and the side effects, et cetera but this is a real challenge and I don't believe in camouflaging a problem because you never solve a that you're unwilling to admit.

A perfect sample, look at the hospital workers, what they call the 1a population. These are people who work in a hospital. They didn't have to schedule a vaccine. They didn't have to get in their car and go drive and wait on a line. The hospital management said to the hospital workers, we have the vaccine, please take it, and they asked the staff to take it for now 8 weeks, two months, please take the vaccine, it's in the building that they work. Well, who actually took it and who didn't take it? 70 percent of the workers were white. 63 percent of the people who took the vaccine are white. 17 percent of the workers are African-American. Only 10 percent of the recipients are African-American, 8 percent Hispanic or Latino, 10 percent vaccine recipients, so of hospital workers, Hispanics and Latinos actually over performed. 11 percent were Asian and they were 16 percent of the eligible of the people who took the vaccine. So it over performed with Asian New Yorkers, over performed with Latinos, underperformed with African-American Black New Yorkers, not just the hospital workers which to me are just a very interesting sample group because there is no other answer. They had, all the obstacles to the vaccine were removed for the hospital workers. But even if you look at the essential worker population, what's called the 1b, police, fire, teachers, 75 percent of them are white, 74percent of the people actually received the vaccine. 17 percent are Black. Only 5 percent took it. 14 percent Hispanic Latino. 10 percent of recipients. 6 percent Asian. 7 percent of the recipients. So there you see a differential in both the Black and the Latino population, even for the 65-plus which is a more diverse group and a more complicated analysis frankly. But whites, you see about a proportionate representation. Blacks, you see a disproportionate - 13 percent were eligible, 65-plus, only 24 percent of recipients. 12 percent eligible Hispanic Latino, 5 percent of the recipients. So you see a significant differential there also with the over-65. Asian population, just about where they should be.

So there are challenges in reaching the Black community and there are two challenges. One, access - can they get it? Is it accessible? And two, is the acceptance or the hesitancy. We have to address both and we are. The hesitancy must be directly addressed with facts and validation and I'm speaking to leaders in the Black community, pastors, community groups. We have to get the information out. Yes, there's reason for cynicism. Go back to the Tuskegee experiment. Yes, there are bona fide reasons for distrust of the system. I get that. But it's not true with this vaccine and that is going to be a process of communication and we're going to have to talk through it because we can't deny it. It's real. It has to be addressed. We're starting an advertising campaign working with validators in the community. But it is an issue that's going to have to be addressed. We expected it. We talked about it early on. We are addressing it but it still exists. Making special efforts to get into the community, to have the conversations, make it accessible, we're doing more in this state than any state in the nation in this regard. But, you can never do enough. One of the things we're doing is mass-vaccination sites in high-positivity areas which are also Black, Latino demographic. And one of the mass vaccination sites it opening today. It's at Yankee Stadium. It is only for Bronx residents. As you saw, the Bronx has one of the highest positivity rates in New York City, and it has been persistent in its high positivity. A landmark in the Bronx, landmark in New York City, is Yankee Stadium. And that is true for so many, many decades. I remember the first game my father took me to see in Yankee Stadium. That's back in the days of the Mickey Mantles of the world. But, we reached out to Yankee Stadium with a somewhat unorthodox request, which is would Yankee Stadium be willing to help us with this COVID crisis by making the stadium available as a mass vaccination site. It was an unusual request, I understand that. But, Yankees ownership and management said yes they would, and we now have a mass vaccination site at Yankee stadium.

I want to thank SOMOS healthcare, who's actually providing the clinicians. New York City is a partner. I want to thank them. I want to thank the National Guard, which is doing a great job setting it up. They really are extraordinary. But also I want to thank the Yankees themselves, and I want to thank the president, Randy Levine, who's been a good friend to all New Yorkers, and always steps up to the challenge no matter how different it is, and this was a different request, I get it. And Aaron Boone, who's the manager of the Yankees, and they had a very strong season and we're going to see an even better one next year. And Mariano Rivera, who to me symbolizes in many ways the best of the Yankee spirit. And I'm just been a phenomenal fan of Mariano Rivera and his style, his accomplishment, his performance, and his spirit, and his smile. He just has an infectious smile. And we have with us today the president of the Yankees, Randy, good to see you, the manager, Aaron Boone, and the sandman himself, behind the mask, Mariano Rivera. Randy, I know this was an unusual request. You stepped up to the plate, pardon the pun. I knew I would get on the field in Yankee Stadium one way or the other as a kid. I never through it was going to be this way, but I'll take it. I said to everyone who's going to Yankee Stadium, I promised you we wouldn't destroy the infield. Any damage to the infield, the state is going to be responsible. I'll be there with the new sod and I'll fix any divots that we create. But Randy, thank you so, so much. Thank you for what you did. Randy Levine.

Randy Levine: Thank you Governor, and it's an honor to be with you today. Of course we've got our manager Aaron Boone, and the only unanimous hall of fame person ever elected, one of the greatest Yankees ever, Mariano Rivera. You know, from Hal Steinbrenner, the whole Steinbrenner family, let me just say that this is an honor and a privilege for the Yankees to be able to be your partner, and the city's partner and SOMOS' partner in this endeavor. You know, this stadium is historical. It's built into the fabric of the city and the Bronx, we're part of the Bronx community. And this is bigger than baseball. This is a bigger, bigger purpose than baseball. So we are so honored and privileged to partner with you. we will do whatever it takes to make it better. I came in this morning, there are hundreds of people out there, and Governor, I wish you could see their face, because it's hope, we're getting to the end of this, it's hope. And they're registering. Everybody here is communicating. The people on the ground are wonderful. Congratulations in the way this was set up, both to your staff and to our staff, it's just phenomenal. So, we're here to do whatever it takes, because this is the most important thing that each and every one of us are dealing with every day. So please don't hesitate to ever call on us for anything, and if it's alright with you I'd like Aaron and Mariano to say a few words.

Governor Cuomo: Please.

Aaron Boone: Thanks Randy, thanks Governor, this is an exciting day in the Bronx, and you know, this is a special place, Yankee Stadium, and has been the host of a lot of really special opening days, and I would say this is the most special opening day, the fact that we're able to be out there and really saving lives in this community, like Randy said, this is a day of hope, and it's really exciting to be here and to be a small part of it. Mariano?

Mariano Rivera: Thank you for having me here because this is amazing, I consider this my house, and Dr. Ramon Tallaj of Somos, it's wonderful, what you guys are doing, because I mean I used to pitch here and save games, now this is about saving lives. Randy mentioned, as he said, and he could not have said it better than that. This is greater than baseball. I mean, we're talking about thousands and millions of people, and I walk around people there getting the vaccine, and I see so many smiles on faces, that's what it's all about. Hope is the name of the game right now. And thank god, yes, thank god for everything because Yankee Stadium has been providing, I mean many, many wonderful games and World Series, but now they're providing opportunities for the people of the Bronx, our people, to come here and receive vaccines, and I'm happy. That's why I'm here to support, they supported me for so many years, and I'm really here to support now. Thank you very much.

Governor Cuomo: Well, Randy Levine, I can't thank you enough, and I can't thank you enough on behalf of all New Yorkers. Again, you're right, this is unusual times, and you really do get to see what people are made of. And when I called you, I knew how unique this request was, and you could have very easily said no thank you, but you were one hundred percent open, and your entire group has been fantastic to work with. So Randy Levine I can't thank you enough. Manager Boone, you had a great season, we'll have a better one. Mariano, your spirit means so much to the people of this state. The love they have for you, and your credibility, your credibility that you are there today, and you're saying that this is what people should do, I think is going to go a long way. And your words, the words you just used, that you've saved games in that stadium, which is totally true, and now you're saving lives. Truer words were never spoken, and there's a sweet poetic irony in that. You are saving lives, and this vaccine does save lives, and that's why it's so important that people know that and they accept it. Because this vaccine can save life. And your presence today is going to bring that message home to many, many people because they do trust you and they do respect you, so thank you very much for being a part of this today.

Randy Levine: Governor, can I—

Governor Cuomo: Please, Mr. Levine.

Randy Levine: To help get people here, what we're going to do, so all you Yankee fans and baseball fans, we're going have some Yankee, over the next couple of days, some little Yankee gifts and trinkets for people to help incentivize them for coming down here.

Governor Cuomo: Randy, I'm coming. Save some for me, Randy. So put some on the side. Randy Levine, Mariano Rivera, Manager Boone—

Randy Levine: We'll replace the turf, you can take any of it home.

Governor Cuomo: It's the one thing I'm competent to do on the field, is to do the seeding. It's all I can do. Mariano, you should know, I've gotten pretty good at hitting the curve ball in this job. I'll tell you the truth because they throw a lot of curve balls in my league.

Thank you all very much. God bless you. Thank you very much. I'll see you soon. Thank you.

Oh that was a treat and that's an important message. Yankee Stadium and the Bronx and Mariano Rivera, I hope people hear those words and I hope they take them to heart.

We have maintained a priority focus on hospital workers on the vaccine or else. Or else if there is another variant, if there is another surge. If the hospital workers are not vaccinated, they will get sick. If the hospital workers get sick, the hospitals will fail. That's why the priority for the hospital workers. Also, nurses, doctors - these are the frontline heroes. Everybody says that. They are more exposed to COVID than anyone else. Everybody knows that. If they have gotten COVID, they would be super spreaders. Everybody knows that. So we prioritized and focused on vaccinating hospital workers. We've made tremendous progress in that. When we started January 18 we were at 63 percent of the hospital workers who were vaccinated. We then did a push. Every day I talked about it. We went up to 72 percent, we are now at 75 percent. That is exactly where we needed to be and we are there. It was a great effort on behalf of the hospitals to get there and I want to thank them very much because it has been a tremendous amount of progress in a relatively short period of time.

Remember, they are also dealing with the hesitancy issue in the hospitals. They can offer it to the staff, but they can't mandate that the staff takes it. They did have to have the conversations and the education and the communication that we've been talking about. Many of the hospitals did a great job and overall they did a great job because we're at 75 percent.

There is still a very uneven performance in this regard and this still has to be addressed. You have some hospitals that are at 100 percent and then you have hospitals that are at 40 percent. That is a major disparity and the differential between literally the higher performing and the lower performing is over 100 percent. That is a problem. I've asked the local health departments, please focus on the lower performing hospitals. Especially those local governments that run the hospital. These are your hospitals. Please get the performance up, but overall, it has been a great, great success.

The hospitals have had 8 weeks to focus on their staff and that's how we achieved the 75 percent. We're giving them one more week to do the last workers. Please go back and appeal to them one more time to the people who haven't taken it. Talk to them about the facts, talk to them about the experience of people who have taken the vaccine. We now have over 2 million New Yorkers who have taken the vaccine. You have a lot of data on possible side effects, et cetera. We're not asking them to go first, they'd be number 2,000,001. Please go back and try one more time but one more week for this allocation.

Then what we're going to do is re-allocate the doses that were set aside for the hospital workers and we will then give that allocation to the local health departments to do people with co-morbidities. That will start February 15. The hospitals will still get enough doses to do who they have to do and who they scheduled and any workers who they can convince to take it. An allocation above that will be given to the local health departments and we're going to open it up to people with co-morbidities.

We do not have a supply that can reach everyone. We understand that so the prioritization is to reach those people who are most at risk or most essential to this period of time. February 15, we will open it up to people with co-morbidities. Co-morbidities and age are the major factors in COVID mortality. Just hear this one number: 94 percent of the people who die from COVID are people with co-morbidities or other underlying conditions. Ninety-four percent.

Why don't we do this group of workers? Why don't we do this group of workers? You do every group in this State when you do people with co-morbidities. If you are a carpenter with a co-morbidity. If you are a teacher with a co-morbidity. If you are a homemaker with a co-morbidity, if you're a lawyer with a co-morbidity - whoever you are. Ninety-four percent of the deaths are people with co-morbidities.

Yes, we had to do hospital staff. Yes, nursing homes. After that, ninety-four percent of the deaths, people with co-morbidities and that's why I feel comfortable about this decision. We have one week for local health departments to start preparing for it. Think about it. We are working with the CDC to establish the co-morbidities list. What is a co-morbidity? How do you define it? The CDC has guidance on that. We're working with the CDC to clarify some definitions, but we're basically going to follow the CDC guidance. Local health departments have a week. Hospitals, you have one more week to get your hospital staff to accept the vaccine and then we'll focus on the co-morbidities.

Questions on the use of the second dose as the first dose. That is a federal decision. The State does not make that decision. The federal government controls the allocation. We get a first dose allocation, we get a second dose allocation. When we get it from the federal government, they say use the first dose for the first dose and the second dose for the second dose. That's why there's a first dose allocation and that's why there's a second dose allocation.

The FDA has spoken specifically to this: "At this time suggesting changes to the FDA authorized dose schedules of this vaccine is pre-mature and not rooted solidly in available evidence." Not rooted solidly in the available evidence.

"Without appropriate data changes in vaccine administration, we run a significant risk of placing public health at risk, undermining the historic vaccination efforts and protecting the population."

Their federal position is clear. This is the Biden administration. We worked very closely with them and they are a very respected group of public health officials. CDC: "The second dose should be administered as close the recommended time as possible. The CDC continues to recommend that people get their second dose as close to the recommended time as possible."

So the federal position is clear. Use the first dose for the first dose. Use the second dose for the second dose. I have spoken to them about using a percentage of the second dose for the first dose. It's complicated, but I think it could be done. The federal government is not there at this point. They have not approved it, but if they do approve it then New York is ready, willing and able to do it; but it's a federal decision.

Johnson & Johnson filed for an Emergency Use Authorization. This is a big deal. The meeting is going to be in a couple of weeks. If they approve Johnson & Johnson, it's a game changer. It's a single dose, not 2 dosages - which makes a phenomenal logistical difference. And it does not require the cold storage chain that Pfizer requires. Pfizer requires significant cold storage that most facilities don't have. Hospitals do have the cold storage capacity for Pfizer, so we're using regional hospitals to keep the Pfizer vaccine. Many local health departments then have to go to that hospital to pick up that vaccine because they can't store it. Johnson & Johnson that's not the case. It's basically normal refrigeration equipment. So, single dose plus no cold storage chain that is a very big deal. They're talking about a possibility of 100 million doses by June, that would be a huge deal. So, fingers crossed, but this would be a massive supply differential.

To remind local governments, we have to have a police reform plan in place on April 1. I understand that dealing with public safety is not an easy issue. I get it. I also understand that it is an essential issue. We're talking about rebuilding the economy, we're talking about reopening, we're talking about getting people to go back to work, we're talking about getting people to come back from vacation homes and go back to cities - they have to be safe. They have to be safe. That is the foundation, and yes, I get the tensions and I understand it's hard to address the tensions between the community and the police, but it's always about trust and respect, and the collaboratives have to be undertaken, and we have to have the conversation and we have to reach a place of commonality and that's 55 days away. Local governments that don't have a passed public safety reform plan - passed by the legislative body, signed by their chief executive, they will not be eligible for state funding. And if they receive state funding there would be a monitor that would be put in place. So, 55 days. Please let's get this done.

Variants of interest - another new term, it goes in the new COVID dictionary with hesitancy. Variance of interest, we've identified 15 new variants of interest cases. 59 total UK strains in New York now. That number is up. The UK strain is reportedly up to 70 percent more transmittable. That is a frightening thought. So, we're watching it closely. CDC is watching it, other countries are watching it, but we do now have 59 cases. This is where they are. It's all throughout the state and it is something that we are watching. All those numbers are now on the way down. All those numbers are on the way down. "Well what could change it?" A variant strain could change it. A variant strain that is more infectious, more transmittable, or more lethal or a variant strain that is resistant to the vaccine. Those could all be gamechangers.

So, we deal with the here now. We deal with the facts that we have now. We deal with the reality that we face now, but we are aware of new possible threats in the future. If those new possible threats actualize, we will respond to them accordingly as we have all through this.

Mariano Rivera - you don't know what the pitcher is going to throw. The pitcher throws the ball. You watch the pitch, and you adjust the swing accordingly, so we wait to see what the COVID pitcher throws. Depending on whether it's a fastball or sinker or curveball then we will adjust our swing accordingly, but right now all the numbers are down, but we are aware that the pitcher has the capacity to throw a curveball and we're ready for the curveball if that pitch comes.

Yesterday, I sent a letter to congressional delegation and I had a conversation with them on the phone on the same topic that we talked to Governor Murphy about earlier. The allocation of the $350 billion is everything. And I understand the congressional process, I respect the congressional process. I understand that COVID has affected every state. COVID has not affected every state the way it has affected this state. That is the fact. My job as Governor of New York is to represent the people of the state. I fight for the people of the state. That's what I do. That's what I'm supposed to do. That's my oath. This state deserves a disproportionate amount of the federal aid because we had a disproportionate amount of the pain and the loss. We had more economic loss. We had more deaths. We had more disruption. In many ways, we did the nation a service because we dealt with this issue before anyone else and they could see what was happening in New York and learn from what was happening in New York. Going second, or going third, or not having the COVID issue until three, four, five months after New York dealt with the problem was a significant advantage. We had no notice. That's why I call it an ambush. We couldn't prepare our hospitals. We couldn't prepare our people. We didn't even know it was here because the federal government never told us. That's why it's their federal negligence. Now you're going to allocate funding to pay for the damage. We had more damage. A hurricane hits a block. There are 20 homes on the block. Some homes have more damage than other homes. You have to allocate funding to rebuild the homes on that block. The homes with more damage get more funding because they had more damage. All 20 homes don't say, "we should have the same amount of money and the same amount of funding because we were all involved in the hurricane." No. The house that had more damage from the hurricane should have more funding because they have more repairs to do. No house was more damaged than the house of the State of New York. That is a fact — and an inarguable fact — so put the politics aside and deal with the COVID facts. It's called the COVID Relief Bill. COVID Relief. Provide the relief that COVID caused. That's our point.

Last point, Super Bowl weekend. "Yay, let's have a party!" Let's have a party, but let's celebrate smart, right? We just went through the holiday surge. Celebrate, but celebrate smart. Super Bowl, celebrate, celebrate smart and the Bills aren't even in the Super Bowl this year, so T.V. works fine. We are New York tough, smart, united, disciplined, loving. Loving, loving, loving.