Governor Cuomo's Death Spike in Spring 2020, Part 1
The critical shift from CDC PCR Testing to the State of New York's own PCR test.
As many are aware, New York had a “death spike” in the Spring of 2020, where “COVID” death cases shot straight up like a rocket, and fell back to a lower baseline just as quickly.
Basic Theory: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wanted to have a “COVID” Pandemic, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control was not cooperating with Cuomo. The CDC consistently returned negative “COVID” PCR test results to New York. Cuomo needed the positive PCR tests to implement “countermeasures” against his targets, which appear to be mainly the elderly and others receiving Medicaid in the State of New York. The Medicaid angle will be covered in another article.
I have looked at multiple angles and reached the conlusion that Governor Cuomo intended to commit mass murder in the State of New York and succeeded. This single article will not be “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” of the previous statement. I believe a reasonable person will require more information than I can present in this article to support my conclusion. It will take several articles to reach the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, if I can do it at all. This article is just one piece of the puzzle. The more angles you look at, the more clear the nature of the “death spike” in New York in Spring of 2020 becomes.
In this Part One I will focus on the shift from CDC PCR testing to State of New York PCR testing.
Please understand that this research takes a great deal of time. If you wish to support my journalism and research, you can upgrade to a paid subscription and see the original source information that leads to my conclusion. Again, I know that you will need to see more information from other angles to support my conclusion, and I intend several more articles on Cuomo’s death spike in pay format.
The information below was taken mainly from press releases by the State of New York. I will provide many quotes from press releases, and briefly summarize the press releases. I believe that it is important to quote the original sources of information at length.
I believe the press releases in chronological order demonstrate that the shift from CDC PCR testing to State of New York PCR testing was a critical component of the origin of the falsified “COVID” Pandemic in New York. The positive “COVID” PCR tests led the Plandemic.
Vice President Mike Pence, wittingly or unwittingly, played a major role in the shift in PCR testing that enabled Cuomo’s Plandemic.
I think you’d like to see the shape of the curve of cases and deaths before reading the text of press releases.
Below are the daily “COVID” death totals from USA Facts. There are some funny things going on within this data set, and other data sets, in my opinion, although I won’t try to outline my concerns here. Nevertheless, these daily deaths are the numbers reported. In any case, statistical anomilies aside, I think to a large extent there was a major death event in the State of New York in this period. These numbers provide a backdrop for Cuomo’s press conferences for your reference.
Jan 24 - March 11, 2020. = 0
March 12, 2020. = 3
March 13, 2020. = 3
March 14, 2020. = 14
March 15, 2020. = 22
March 16, 2020. = 30
March 17, 2020. = 50
March 18, 2020. = 48
March 19, 2020. = 79
March 20, 2020. = 139
March 21, 2020. = 185
March 22, 2020. = 284
March 23, 2020. = 407
March 24, 2020. = 545
March 25, 2020. = 694
March 26, 2020. = 992
March 27, 2020. = 1235
March 28, 2020. = 1569
March 29, 2020. = 1991
March 30, 2020. = 2490
March 31, 2020. = 3093
This is what a chart of “COVID” cases and deahs from USA Facts looks like below. In Spring 2020, it shows that “new cases per day” peaked at around 10,000 per day, and that deaths peaked at around 1,100 per day in Spring of 2020. The “COVID” vaccines first became available in December 2020, and you can see the shift in the curves in that period as well.
The graph below is from the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), November 2020: FIGURE 1. Daily laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, associated hospitalizations, and deaths — New York City, February 29–June 1, 2020. It shows a peak of around 6,000 “COVID” cases per day, and 600 “COVID” deaths per day. These are “laboratory confirmed cases,” which may or may not explain the lower numbers than in the graph above. Here’s the way I look at it: Positive “COVID” PCR tests lead to hospital admissions and “countermeasures,” which lead to death. Notice that deaths “lag” testing.
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center that tracked all “COVID” cases and deaths in the world went online on January 22, 2020.
January 22, 2020. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/
“The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center established a new standard for infectious disease tracking by publicly providing pandemic data in near real time. It began Jan. 22, 2020 as the COVID-19 Dashboard, operated by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering and the Applied Physics Laboratory. But the map of red dots quickly evolved into the global go-to hub for monitoring a public health catastrophe. By March 3, 2020, Johns Hopkins expanded the site into a comprehensive collection of raw data and independent expert analysis known as the Coronavirus Resource Center (CRC) – an enterprise that harnessed the world-renowned expertise from across Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.”
The press releases below are from https://www.governor.ny.gov/news.
In January and early February, the State of New York sent samples to the US CDC for “COVID” PCR testing. They all came back negative.
January 24, 2020.
“The State Department of Health currently has four persons under investigation for novel coronavirus that are under isolation as their cases are being tested at the CDC. So far, one of these cases has been proven negative and three are still pending.”
January 26, 2020.
“Seven Individuals Total Have Been Identified for Testing, CDC Determines Three Cases were Negative, Four Results Still Pending, No Confirmed Cases in New York State.”
January 27, 2020.
"While there have been no confirmed cases in New York State, as of today our Department of Health has sent samples for nine individuals to CDC for testing; four of these samples have proven negative and five results are still pending,"
January 28, 2020.
“Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced an update on the status of testing for the novel coronavirus in New York State. As of today, the New York State Department of Health has sent samples for 10 individuals to the CDC for testing with seven found to be negative and three more still pending. So far, there are no confirmed cases in New York State.”
January 30, 2020.
“As of today, the New York State Department of Health has sent samples from 11 individuals to the CDC for testing for the novel coronavirus, with seven found to be negative and four more still pending. There are no confirmed cases in New York State.”
February 02, 2020.
“Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced an update on the status of testing for the novel coronavirus in New York State. As of today, samples from 12 New Yorkers have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. Of those, 11 have come back negative. One sample, from New York City, is awaiting results from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in New York State.” …
“We are in constant communication with the CDC. And our lab - the Wadsworth Lab in Upstate New York - once they have the protocols from CDC, will soon be able to do testing right there at the lab.”
February 04, 2020.
“Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced an update on the status of testing for the novel coronavirus in New York State. As of today, samples from 17 New Yorkers have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. Of those, 11 have come back negative. Three samples from New York City and three samples from New York State outside of New York City are pending, for six total pending samples. There are still no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in New York State.”
February 07, 2020.
“Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced an update on the status of testing for the novel coronavirus in New York State. As of today, samples from 22 New Yorkers have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. Of those, 16 have come back negative. Two samples from New York City and four samples from New York State outside of New York City are pending, for six total pending samples. There are still no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in New York State.”
On February 7, 2020, the FDA allowed the State of New York’s laboratory, Wadsworth lab, to use the CDC test.
“Now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the State to use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's diagnostic test, New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center is working to implement the coronavirus testing.”
Negative “COVID” PCR tests continued as Wadsworth used the CDC “COVID” PCR test.
February 10, 2020.
“Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced additional negative results for the novel coronavirus in New York State. The New York State Department of Health just learned of another negative test result, which brings the statewide total of samples that have come back negative up to 22. As of today, samples from 23 New Yorkers have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. Of those, 22 have come back negative. One sample from New York City is still pending; there are no pending samples in New York State outside of New York City. There are still no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in New York State.”
Despite the continuing negative tests from New York’s Wadsworth lab using the CDC’s “COVID” PCR test, Cuomo remarked that he still expected positive tests and that New York was gearing up for their response.
February 10, 2020.
Governor Cuomo: “Okay, but I don't want to set a false premise. We will have people who test positive for the coronavirus, is my informed opinion. So I don't want to make it sound like well we don't have any yet and if we do then we have a problem. We anticipate that we will and we have the facilities set up and there are quarantine facilities, et cetera.”
There are no press releases listed from New York between February 10, 2020, and February 26, 2020, - a large gap in New York’s press releases. The State of New York apparently discontinued reporting negative “COVID” PCR tests from the CDC in this period. Press releases began again on February 26, 2020.
On February 26, 2020, President Trump announced that he was appointing Vice President Mike Pence to lead the White House Coronavirus Task Force, replacing Alex Azar, the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. The White House Coronavirus Task Force was established on January 29, 2020. Alex Azar was the first head of the “Task Force.”
As the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar admisitered the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The Centers for Disease Control is an agency under the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Source: Trump White House: Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Conference
Vice President Mike Pence: “As a former governor from the state where the first MERS case emerged in 2014, I know full well the importance of presidential leadership, the importance of administration leadership, and the vital role of partnerships of state and local governments and health authorities in responding to the potential threat of dangerous infectious diseases.”
“And I — I look forward, Mr. President, to serving in this role.”
On February 26, 2020, The President remarked that they were bringing in a “specialist from the State Department.” This was likely Dr. Michael Callahan.
“We’re bringing in a specialist — a very highly regarded specialist — tomorrow, who works, actually, at the State Department. Very, very tremendously talented in doing this.”
On February 26, after the appointment of Mike Pence to lead the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Cuomo called on the federal government to allow State of New York’s labs- Wadsworth Center and NYC Public Health- to begin testing for “COVID” using the CDC’s PCR test.
February 26, 2020.
“The Governor is also calling on the federal government to authorize the Wadsworth Center and NYC Public Health Lab to test for the virus, allowing for expanded testing capacity and expedited test results. New York State has independently worked to develop and validate a test using the CDC protocol. Upon FDA approval, Wadsworth can immediately begin testing to support New York State and other states in the northeast region if necessary.”
On February 26, Cuomo reiterated that he expected positive PCR tests, because New York was the front door to the world.
February 26, 2020.
“I have said before that it is highly probable that you will see a continuing spread of this virus. It is highly probable that we will have people in New York State that test positive. New York is the front door internationally. We have people coming here from across the world. We see how it is spreading and affecting different countries - Italy recently - and that will continue. Again, I think it is highly probable and no one should be surprised when we have positive cases in New York.”
On February 29, 2020, Cuomo reported that he had personally lobbied Vice President Mike Pence to allow the State of New York to begin PCR testing. Cuomo reported that Vice President Pence had agreed, and that “COVID” PCR testing in New York would begin immediately.
"When I spoke to Vice President Pence, I urged him to approve New York State's Coronavirus test — we just received word that our test has been approved by the FDA. New York State will begin testing immediately at Wadsworth Lab.”
"This approval will expedite wait time and improve New York's ability to more effectively manage the Coronavirus situation as it unfolds. "
On February 29, 2020, the FDA allowed “COVID” PCR tests other than the CDC’s “COVID” PCR test to be used.
By Feb 29, the FDA said it would allow companies to apply for an emergency use authorization (EUA) for their tests, but the procedure was so complicated that only 6 entities applied over the first week. By the middle of March we still didn’t have many tests in the US, so the FDA then said anyone who had developed a test could offer it, without any review, and subsequently send the FDA information on the test performance. This was a
On March 01, 2020, the next day, after Wadsworth Center was authorized to do “COVID” PCR testing, Cuomo reported that the State of New York had found its long-anticipated first positive “COVID” case. Whether Wadsworth used the CDC’s “COVID” PCR test, or a test they had developed themselves, Cuomo did not specify.
March 01, 2020.
"This evening we learned of the first positive case of novel coronavirus — or COVID-19 — in New York State. The patient, a woman in her late thirties, contracted the virus while traveling abroad in Iran, and is currently isolated in her home. The patient has respiratory symptoms, but is not in serious condition and has been in a controlled situation since arriving to New York.”
"The positive test was confirmed by New York's Wadsworth Lab in Albany, underscoring the importance of the ability for our state to ensure efficient and rapid turnaround, and is exactly why I advocated for the approval from Vice President Pence that New York was granted just yesterday.”
On March 02, 2020, Cuomo announced that the State of New York intended to increase testing to 1,000 cases per day, and that they would provide instructions to hospitals on how to replicate the “State’s test.”
During a briefing on the novel Coronavirus at his office in midtown Manhattan, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the world-renowned Wadsworth Center — the research-intensive public health laboratory housed within the State Department of Health — is partnering with hospitals to expand surge testing capacity to 1,000 tests per day statewide for the novel coronavirus. The Wadsworth Center will provide these hospitals with instructions on how to replicate the State's test, as well as help them purchase some of the equipment necessary to develop and validate the test.
On Monday, March 02, 2020, Cuomo announced that New York had received approval to use the “COVID” PCR test that the State of New York had developed. Cuomo reported that the State of New York had been given approval to use their own PCR test "on Saturday.” The previous Saturday was February 29, 2020.
“On Saturday, New York State received notification that the FDA approved Wadsworth lab's Emergency Use Application — EUA — request to begin novel coronavirus testing using the test that the State developed and validated at the Wadsworth Center. This test will allow the State to perform testing more rapidly than sending to the CDC and to respond expeditiously when and if there is a positive case to better protect the public health of New Yorkers. Upon receipt of lab specimens, the Wadsworth Center can complete testing within three to five hours.”
On March 03, 2020, the State of New York reported its second “COVID” case.
“This morning, Governor Cuomo also said there is a second confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in New York - a 50-year old man in Westchester who is hospitalized and in serious condition.”
On March 03, 2020, Cuomo said that he expected a surge of COVID cases, and that they were trying to expand their testing capacity to 1,000 per day.
“That's my expectation. Look how many people we had coming back from countries that we now have on the watch list. Literally hundreds, so there will be a lot of cases. I think the public, the calibration is off, the expectation is off. There are going to be many, many cases. Every case you track down to limit the exposure the best you can, testing capacity - we're trying to get our testing capacity up to 1,000 per day to limit it. Hospital capacity for those people that have to be hospitalized.”
On March 05, 2020, Cuomo announced a large increase in positive “COVID” PCR test results.
During a briefing on the novel coronavirus, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today confirmed 11 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the total to 22 confirmed cases in New York State.
On March 05, 2020, Cuomo announced that labs other than Wadsworth Center had been authorized to do “COVID” PCR testing.
"The State can test at what's called Wadsworth Laboratory, but Dr. Zucker, our Health Commissioner, has been working with the federal government. We now have approval to work with other labs also, so we'll be increasing that testing capacity.”
On March 06, 2020, Cuomo announced another large increase in positive “COVID” PCR tests- to 44.
“We are continuing to test and the testing is now ramping up as we discussed earlier. So we have a greater capacity to test and we are turning around more tests. And during the day today we had 11 new cases, eight in Westchester and 3 in Nassau County. That bring the total to 44 cases.”
On March 07, 2020, Cuomo complained that the CDC had previously been too slow to do PCR testing, and that New York was trying to implement large-scale, robotic PCR testing at Northwell Health and other private labs in New York.
“Our relationship with the CDC is also problematic on an ongoing basis. We have the capacity to preform tests. We have a sophisticated state lab, we have sophisticated in our state. We are not reliant on CDC for doing the testing. CDC is a bottleneck for this nation in doing the testing. You go to CDC, the tests have to go back to Atlanta, they have to do the test, they then have to send it back. I believe the CDC was caught flatfooted. I believe they're slow in their response and I believe they're slowing down the state. We needed CDC approval for a lot of these things. First, we could only use the CDC - we could only send tests to the CDC. We then implored them to allow the state to do its own testing. Finally, they allowed the state to do its own testing. It became clear that we needed more capacity than just the state tests performed at a state laboratory. So we asked to allow to contract with our commercial laboratories. That took a long time to get that approval. We now have the approval for the outside laboratory contacting.”
“The next hurdle is something called automated testing, which is done by robotics and it's much faster. So the labs that we are now going to contact with and we have several approved: Northwell Health, which has a tremendous laboratory facility and testing capacity, New York Presbyterian, Memorial Sloan Kettering, University of Rochester Medical Center, Roswell Park, and SUNY Upstate Medical University. We will be contracting with them to do testing. Many of them has automated testing available, but right now CDC does not allow the automated testing.”
On March 07, 2020, Cuomo announced that senior citizens were the most vulnerable to “COVID.” I believe that the State of New York had prioritized testing for these “vulnerable groups” in nursing homes, leading to their demise.
“It is deep breath time, David, and forget the chatter. Forget what you're hearing from the federal government. Look at the basic underlying facts because there's really one question: what happens if I get coronavirus? If I get coronavirus, 80 percent of the people who get coronavirus will self-resolve. They'll walk around. they have mild symptoms. Twenty percent will get ill and maybe hospitalized, and the vulnerable population are senior citizens, immune-compromised and people with underlying illnesses, and it is a problem for them. What happened in Washington, a nursing home, that's my nightmare, senior assisted living facility - that we're worried about, a person who's battling cancer, HIV-positive, those people are vulnerable to this. But that is it, you know, and if you look at all the numbers, you look at my numbers here in New York, 76 cases, only a handful are hospitalized. Most of them are at home, and they're recovering, and they're getting better like a flu. So the ultimate reality is manageable. Again, problem with the vulnerable populations, which tend to be in congregate facilities, so the hysteria is way ahead of the reality and if you know the facts you will be calm. Part of it is we're in this every day, new cases, new cases. There are going to be new cases. I'm going to have more new cases every day. I want more new cases every day because I'm trying to find the positive people so I can put them in quarantine so they don't affect anybody. The number of cases has to go up. It can't go down. But we're purposely looking for the positives because we want fewer people infected. But the ultimate facts here are reassuring. We don't want to lose anyone, but the flu, the normal flu, yes, it attacks senior citizens and people with immune compromised systems, and people die from the flu. That happens, and people who catch this, if they're in that category can also pass away.”
On March 08, 2020 Cuomo held a press conference with Northwell Health’s CEO, Michael Dowling. Michael Dowling had previously served in New York State government for 12 years under Andrew Cuomo’s father, Mario Cuomo, including seven years as New York’s Director of Health, Education, and Human Services and Deputy Secretary to the Governor. Cuomo expressed a strong desire to begin automated testing at Northwell Health. Positive “COVID” PCR tests had increased to 105 in New York by this date.
“To my left, Michael Dowling who is the CEO of Northwell Health. I have known Michael Dowling for more years than I care to remember. He was head of healthcare for the State of New York under a gentleman named Mario Cuomo who served as Governor of the State of New York. Some of you may remember him. Some of the older people might. I do and I miss him every day. My father loved Michael Dowling and he has been phenomenal as a healthcare professional for this entire state in government and out of government. And Northwell, as I will discuss in a moment, is truly an extraordinary facility.”
“We are at Northwell Laboratories today. This is a 150,000 square feet of laboratory space. Over $60 million. This is the most sophisticated lab in the State of New York. This is one of the most sophisticated labs in the United States of America. This lab has what's called automated testing. Which expands exponentially the number of tests that can be done. CDC has not authorized the use of this lab. Which is just outrageous and ludicrous. CDC, wake up, let the state's test. Let private labs test. Let's increase as quickly as possible our testing capacity so we identify the positive people so we can isolate them and we're successful in our containment.”
“Not to be using this laboratory, not to be using the other private labs around the state makes no sense whatsoever. Not to be using automated testing, which means rather than a person manually handling a test tube and a test, the machines we saw that handle 120 samples at a time place them in a machine, the machine runs the test. Of course you should be using that technology.” …
“As far as the ongoing testing that we're doing, we did more tests overnight and the State now has 105 people who have tested positive. So that number is up by about 16 overnight.”
On March 08, 2020, after his press conference with Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling, Cuomo announced that Northwell Health had been authorized to begin manual testing, but not automated testing.
"After days of advocating the FDA and the federal government to expand testing capacity for the novel coronavirus in New York State and working with Northwell and Wadsworth to expedite the process, we just received word that Northwell Laboratories has been authorized to test under Wadsworth's emergency use authorization. Manual testing of 75 to 80 samples per day will begin at Northwell immediately, but we still need automated testing approved so we can perform thousands per day.
On March 10, 2020, Cuomo announced that Northwell Health would set up a “Satellite” testing facility at a New Rochelle, New York.
Announces Partnership with Northwell Health to Set Up Satellite Testing Facility in New Rochelle
"New Rochelle at this point is probably the largest cluster in the United States of these cases and it is a significant issue... The numbers have been going up, the numbers continue to go up, the numbers are going up unabated and we do need a special public health strategy for New Rochelle. What we are going to do is focus on an area concentric circle around the sites of the majority of the cases in New Rochelle.”
On March 10, 2020, Cuomo reported that the State of Washington had a similar number of positive “COVID” tests compared to New York, but that Washington had 22 deaths compared to 0 deaths in New York. Most of the deaths in Washington came from a single nursing home- Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washinton.
Cuomo: “Again, putting things in focus. Washington State is at 179. New York at 173. You see how much higher the deaths are in Washington. That makes the point that we have been talking about. Who will be most likely affected by this situation. Washington State was in a senior home and that is what this is all about. What does it mean? What is the bottom line. Senior citizens, people who are in the vulnerable population. Senior citizens, underlying illness, compromised immune system, that is who we are trying to protect here.”
“And you see that in the 22 deaths in Washington compared to New York with no deaths. Same number of cases, look how higher Washington is because it's about the senior citizens. And our focus, governmentally, nursing homes, senior citizen congregate living. Our focus on an individual level, senior citizens, compromised immune systems.”
On March 10, 2020, Cuomo reported that Northwell Health had been approved to do automated “COVID” PCR testing.
Cuomo: “Northwell received approval last night for their automated testing capacity which increases Northwell's capacity to test - we have been waiting for the CDC to do that.”
On March 10, 2020, Cuomo said that he feared another nursing home death event in New York similar to that in Washington.
“Jake (Tapper), that's my nightmare and that's where you're going to see the pain and the damage from this virus. Senior citizen homes, nursing homes, congregant senior facilities. That is my nightmare. We've taken steps, some drastic steps in this area, in New Rochelle, we're talking about. We said no visitors in a nursing home. All you need is 9-year-old Johnny to visit his grandmother in a nursing home, give her a kiss, and you can be off to the races. That's my fear. That population in those congregate facilities. That is really what we have to watch.”
On March 11, 2020, Cuomo reported a “cluster” of cases in New Rochelle, New York.
On the New Rochelle area specifically, it's the most dense cluster of cases in the United States. We have 108 cases in New Rochelle. I think you get an idea, New York City only has 36.
On March 11, 2020, Cuomo reported that the State of New York would contract “COVID” PCR testing with 28 private labs and that these labs would begin testing immediately.
During a novel coronavirus briefing, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York State will contract with 28 private labs to increase testing capacity for the novel coronavirus. Following a call with the 28 labs, the Governor announced that he has instructed the labs to begin testing immediately as soon as they are ready. The 28 labs are specialized in virology and are routine partners with the New York State Department of Health.
On March 11, 2020, Cuomo predicted that “COVID” cases in New York would “skyrocket.”
"It was shocking to people and that is my point. This is not about a foreign virus, whatever that means. It's here, it's community spread. It is much more prevalent than we know. The testing does not reflect what it is. These are not random sample tests. It is because we have no testing capacity. That is why the numbers are low. If you actually had testing capacity, you would see how high the numbers are already."
“Because the truth is those numbers on cases are going to skyrocket. We know that. That is going to be jarring to the American people. We do have a problem with testing. And people are getting more nervous and going to see the numbers go up and they can't get a test.”
On March 12, 2020, New York announced they had contracted with BioReference to do an additional 5,000 “COVID” PCR tests per day, and that they were doing “drive-through” testing in New Rochelle, New York.
On this day, New York listed the first deaths from “COVID” in USA Facts: 3.
“In order to increase testing capacity, the State is contracting with BioReference Laboratories to run an additional 5,000 tests per day on top of what the state is already doing. These additional 5,000 tests per day will come online next week. This additional testing capacity is on top of that of the 28 private labs the Governor announced are partnering with the state in the coming days and weeks.”
“Additionally, the Governor announced the first public drive-through testing facility on the east coast will start testing people tomorrow in New Rochelle. Testing will be done by appointment only. New Rochelle residents who have been quarantined will be tested first.”
On March 13, 2020, New York announced that the FDA had approved the state’s 28 public and private labs to do automated “COVID” PCR testing.
After weeks of demanding federal approval, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the FDA has approved New York State to authorize the state's 28 public and private labs to begin manual, semi-automated and automated testing for novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. The approval also extends to the Roche high-volume platform for testing. The Governor has made increasing capacity a priority, and these approvals will increase the state's testing capacity dramatically - from 3,000 to date to about 6,000 per day in the next week.
On March 13, 2020, Cuomo announced that New York’s “COVID” cases had increased dramatically. New York had tested 3,200 people with 421 positives- 13%, compared to the CDC’s 0% in February. 50 of the 421 cases were now in hospitals.
“So again, I want to thank the Vice President and especially the President who facilitated this and moved quickly.”
“I'll give you the numbers for today. That's the total number of people tested - about 3,200. The number of cases, current total 421. We've gone up 96. New York City you can see went up 59 cases to a total of 154. Westchester went up 10 to 158.”
“Current hospitalizations: 50 out of the 421 cases, that's a 12% hospitalization rate.”
On March 14, 2020, Cuomo reported the first “COVID” death in the State of New York, an 82 year-old woman with comorbidites. There were now 524 cases with 117 hospitalizations.
“And again, the majority of these cases are being done by "disease detectives" tracking down cases from positive cases. 117 of the 524 are hospitalized. We have the first case in Tioga County and the first case in Tompkins County. Also, we had last night a death in a New York City hospital of an 82-year-old woman who had coronavirus. She came in to the hospital on March 3rd, and again here the context is very important. This was an 82-year-old woman who had an underlying respiratory illness, emphysema, for which she had been hospitalized previously. She then contracted the coronavirus on top of the emphysema and she passed. Again, the context is important here. I was speaking to a healthcare professional about this case, and the healthcare professional said, look, if you are an 82-year-old, with emphysema, and you contract the normal slew, you're gravely ill. And when they talk about the number of deaths you have from the flu, again the normal flu is when you have a person who has a compromised immune system, there's new citizens, an underlying illness, and then you get the flu and you're 82 years old, yes, you're in a grave situation. And that's what we're going to see playing out here as the general rule.”
On March 15, 2020, Cuomo criticized the FDA’s authorization of Swiss automated Roche PCR testing, which he described as “overregulation.”
“Slowing the spread of coronavirus is a function of testing and reducing the density of public gatherings. So first, Mr. President, you must stop the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from overregulating the testing process, and authorize states to certify a wider array of testing labs and methods.”
“On Friday, you said that your administration had agreed to allow New York State's public health department to authorize local labs to perform the state's approved coronavirus test — a good first step. Your administration also approved high-volume automated testing by the Swiss diagnostics maker Roche.”
“But these moves are insufficient. Because of the high demand for testing kits nationwide, many labs with Roche machines will be unable to obtain enough of the company's testing kits for weeks or even months. There are other labs that can do high-volume coronavirus tests that do not use Roche kits. But these machines cannot be used without further F.D.A. approvals, of the sort Roche received on Friday.”
On March 16, 2020, Cuomo once again said New York was ramping up “COVID” PCR testing.
“We are ramping up on the testing, again much later than we should have been. I said to the President earlier this week, let New York take care of its own testing. If I have to wait for the FDA and the CDC, we'll be here forever. He's allowed New York to do its own testing. We'll be ramping up the testing.”
On March 16, 2020, Cuomo announced that they were up to 7,000 “COVID” PCR tests per day and that their positives were up to 950.
Testing - we have had a phenomenal increase in testing. … These are the new number of tests. We're up to 7,000 tests, so it's a dramatic increase, 1,600 new tests. What happens when the testing capacity increases? The number of positives increase by definition. So the number of new cases has gone up from 221 to 950 cases.
On March 16, 2020, Cuomo announced that New York’s deaths were at 7, and that it was the “same story” as in South Korea, China, and Italy.
“Our deaths have increased to seven. Washington is the next highest at 42. Total deaths in the United States - 67. Hospitalizations - 158 out of 950, that's 17 percent of the cases. When we talk about hospital capacity, just take that 17 percent and it's always if you notice, 14 percent, 15 percent, 16 percent, 17 percent, run that 17 percent against whatever you think the total infected population will be and then compare that to our hospital capacity and that will keep you up at night. Hence the situation that Dr. Zucker and myself and my colleagues are in.”
“Again, perspective, perspective, perspective. I went through the numbers in Italy, I went through the numbers in South Korea and China last night. You look at all these numbers, they're the same story. You look at the deaths in New York, it's the same story. People who had underlying illnesses, if they got the flu in a normal season they would be in grave trouble. Instead they got the coronavirus and they had existing illnesses and they passed away. Remember, before any of this somebody would pass away in a hospital, an older person, and you would say, "How did they die?" And they would say, "Pneumonia." You'd say, "Pneumonia? How did they catch pneumonia?" And they'd say, "Well it wasn't really pneumonia, it was they had heart disease, they had emphysema, they were struggling with cancer, and then the pneumonia comes the accelerant to a bad situation." And that's what's happening here.”
On March 17, 2020, Cuomo said that “the curve” was “a wave.. going to break on the hospital system.”
“They talk about flattening the curve. I see the curve as a wave, and the wave is going to break on the hospital system. Our current projections are we're almost double the capacity of the healthcare system. And that's why I'm working with the president, in partnership, spoke to him this morning, we're looking for the U.S. Army corps of engineers to come in and help. To build temporary hospital space. We're looking to increase our intensive care unit capacity.”
On March 17, 2020, Cuomo said they were up to 10,000 “COVID” PCR tests per day, that they were up to around 1,500 “COVID” cases, and that he suspected the actual number of “COVID” cases was “exponentially larger.”
Tens of thousands. I think we're kidding ourselves, Brian, with these tests. All the tests are telling us is how many tests we are taking. We were so slow on testing that the virus got way ahead of us. I believe there were tens of thousands of people in New York who had the virus and resolved and never knew they had it. So we now look at these numbers like we're looking at the stock market. The numbers are just a reflection of how many tests we're taking, we're up to 10,000 tests. So now we have close to 1,500 people who tested positive. That's only because we took 10,000 tests. We were so slow in the testing as a nation, but I would bet you dollars to donuts that the number of cases are exponentially larger than what we're actually seeing.
On March 17, 2020, Cuomo announced that New York’s deaths were up to 12.
We have the highest number of cases in the United States. We are going to have a real tragedy where people die because they couldn't get the right health care.
On March 19, 2020, Cuomo expressed frustration that “young people” were not scared of “COVID” despite all of his dire predictions, but of course, it only kills when they spread it to Nursing Homes and such as they party around feeling fine.
"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."
"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."
On March 19, 2020, Cuomo said New York had 5,000 - 6,000 ventilators, and needed 30,000 more.
We now have about 5,000, 6,000 ventilators in New York State. We are going to need about 30,000 ventilators because these people who have come in all have respiratory illnesses."
On March 19, 2020, Cuomo compared testing and death results in New York to China (Cuomo did this several times in March).
We know what it does. We know it hurts. We know who it effects. Johns Hopkins, since day one, has tracked this virus through China, 222,000 cases, 9,000 deaths, 84,000 recoveries, 129,000 pending.
On March 20, 2020, Cuomo reported that theywere up to 7,000 positive “COVID” cases with 2,900 new cases. New York smoked past the States of Washington and California for the lead in total “COVID” PCR tests, at around 1,000 cases each.
“The number of cases and you can see why we've taken these dramatic actions. Total positive up to 7,000; 2,900 new positive cases. Now I've told you in the past that the number of cases is relative to the number of tests. I've also said that New York has been very aggressive about increasing our number of tests. We went to the federal government, we asked for the authority to allow the state to run the tests as opposed to waiting for the federal government. The President granted us that ability. I ramped up all the labs in our state. We opened drive-thru all across the state.” …
“New York now has 7,000 cases - that compares to State of Washington that has 1,000, California that has 1,000 and change.”
On March 21, 2020, Cuomo reported his exponential increase in “COVID” cases as he had predicted back as early as February 10, 2020, before he went silent February 10-26 as the CDC tests returned negative “COVID” PCR results, and before they began their own testing.
“Total number of positive cases now is up to 10,000, number of new cases has increased by 3,000, let's go back in case you can't read as fast as I can read. 6,000 New York City, 1,300 Westchester, 1,200 in Nassau.”
On March 21, 2020, Cuomo announced that they had identified sites with the US Arm Corps of Engineers for temporary hospitals to deal with the “COVID” cases surge.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the recommendation of the Army Corps of Engineers regarding four initial sites in New York State for locating temporary hospitals - the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and locations at SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Old Westbury and the Westchester Convention Center.
"Every day we see the number of cases of novel coronavirus continue to rise, and we know that by all projections we're going to have more hospitalizations than we can deal with in our healthcare system," Governor Cuomo said. "We have a plan of action to help stop the spread of this virus, including expanding hospital capacity and identifying new hospital beds, and after meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers and hearing their recommendations, we stand ready for the building of temporary hospitals at four facilities in New York State. This is a public health crisis, but worse than the virus is the fear, but we have a plan and we are doing everything we can to keep the people informed and save lives."
On March 21, 2020, Cuomo announced that they were gathering ventilators, and that they were going to use them in the most critical areas.
“We're gathering ventilators. Ventilators are the most important piece of equipment and the piece of equipment that is most scarce. We're gathering them from all different health facilities across the state and then we're going to use those in the most critical areas. We also identified 6,000 new ventilators that we can actually purchase so that's a big deal.”
On March 21, 2020, Cuomo announced that they were both increasing testing and increasing hospital space.
Go through the facts, the numbers are still increasing. We have been seeing that. That's the line that we're tracking. This is all about the increase in the number of cases and managing the increase in the number of cases to the capacity of our health care system. What are we doing? We're reducing the spread and the rate of the spread to match the increase in the number of cases and increasing hospital capacity at the same time - just how do our hospitals manage the rate of the spread.
On March 21, 2020, Cuomo announced that the State of New York was doing more “COVID” PCR tests per capita than anywhere else in the world, that positive “COVID” PCR tests had increased to 10,000.
We are taking more tests in New York than anyplace else. We're taking more tests per capita than China or South Korea. We're also taking more tests than any state in the United States of America. That is actually a great accomplishment. Because if you remember back, two weeks, which seems like a lifetime now, the whole question was coming up to scale on tests. How do we get the number of tests up and how do we get it up quickly? I spoke to the president and the vice president and said decentralize the testing, let the states do it. I have 200 labs. I can mobilize quickly. Let us do the tests. They agreed. We're doing more tests than any state, so for example, we've done 45,000 tests. California has done 23,000, Washington has done 23,000, so you see how many more tests we are doing.
Total number of positive cases now is up to 10,000, number of new cases has increased by 3,000,
On March 21, 2020, after previously criticizing young people who were partying around feeling fine, Cuomo announced that 18-49 year olds were 54% of the positive “COVID” PCR tests, and implied that they could kill the elderly. Cuomo didn’t say how many of the 18-49 year olds were on Medicaid.
“You cannot have your own facts - you want to have an opinion, have an opinion, but you can't have your own facts. "Well young people don't get this disease." You are wrong - that is not a fact. 18-49 years old are 54 percent of the cases in New York State. 54 percent. 18-49 years old. So you're not Superman, and you're not Superwoman, you can get this virus and you can transfer the virus and you can wind up hurting someone who you love or hurting someone wholly inadvertently.”
On March 22, 2020, Cuomo announced that New York was up to 114 deaths, and that they were mostly 70 and older, and that they had underlying health conditions. He didn’t say how many were receiving Medicaid.
114 deaths in New York, total number of deaths 374 in the country. And that is a sobering, sad, and really distressing fact that should give everyone pause because that's what this is all about is saving lives and we've lost 114 New Yorkers. Keeping it all in perspective, Johns Hopkins has followed this from day one. 311,000 cases. 13,000 deaths. Statewide deaths, to the extent we can research the cause of death and the demographics of death, what we're seeing roughly. 70% of those who passed away were 70 years old or older. And the majority had underlying health conditions, okay? So it is what we said it was. Approximately 80% of the deaths of those under 70 years old had an underlying health condition.
On March 22, 2020, Cuomo announced that 40-80% of people would wind up with positive “COVID” PCR tests, but that it was just going to kill the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.
The timeline, nobody can tell you, it depends on how we handle it, but 40 percent, up to 80 percent of the population will wind up getting this virus. All we're trying to do is slow the spread but it will spread. It is that contagious. Again, that's nothing to panic over. You saw the numbers. Unless you're older with an underlying illness, etcetera, it's something that you're going to resolve but it's going to work its way through society.
On March 22, 2020, Cuomo announced that the State of New York was up to 15,168 positive “COVID” PCR tests.
Finally, the Governor confirmed 4,812 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 15,168 confirmed cases in New York State.
On March 22, 2020, Cuomo reiterated that 18-49 year olds were irresponsible because even though they felt fine, they carried “COVID” and were responsible for killing the elderly.
Two different facts I want to make sure were clear just so there's no confusion. Fact one, young people can get the coronavirus. They're wrong when they say they can't get it. They can get it. Eighteen to 49-year-olds represent 53 percent of the total cases in New York. This is not China, this is not South Korea, on the theory that I'm an American youth and therefore I have a superior immune system than China or South Korea. No. That theory is not correct. In New York, 53 percent of the cases, 18 to 49 years old.
Second fact, older people and those with compromised immune system, underlying illnesses, can die from the coronavirus. You're right the 18- to 49-year-old is probably not lethal but you can get it and you can get sick and it's a nasty illness and then you can transfer it to someone else. That's the case for young people. Older people, obviously if you're a vulnerable person it can be lethal.
On March 22, 2020, Cuomo announced that the hospitalization rate of “COVID” cases was 1,900 out of 15,000, at 13%. Cuomo did not break the hospitalization rate down by age.
On the hospitalization rate, which is a number that I watch very closely, it's 1,900 cases out of 15,000. 13%. 13% is actually lower than it has been. We've been running at 15%, 16%, as high as 20%. This is 13%.
On March 22, 2020, Cuomo announced that New York had a much greater rate of positive “COVID” PCR tests than Washington or California.
Across the country, you see New York now has 15,000 cases. Washington State, 1,600. California, 1,500. So we have roughly 15 times the number of cases. Now, do we really have 15 times the number of cases? You don't know. We're testing much more than anyone else. So that is a major factor in this. But I have no doubt that we have more cases. We have more density, we have more people from other countries who come to New York than any other states, so I have no reason to believe that we don't have more.
On March 22, 2020, Cuomo said that the enormous amount of the expected 40-80% positive “COVID” PCR rate would self-resolve- except for the elderly.
Wolf Blitzer: Before I let you go, I want you to elaborate on the headline that you delivered earlier today - that 40 percent to 80 percent potentially of the citizens and people of New York state - the population of New York, is what, about 15 million people? Is that right?
Governor Cuomo: Yes, 19 million.
Wolf Blitzer: Because I just want to say, if these steps are not taken and millions of people come down with coronavirus in New York State, even if the Army Corps of Engineers builds a lot of hospitals, you're not going to have enough hospitals.
Governor Cuomo: Well, that's the $64,000 question. It depends on what the rate of the increase and the rate of spread is. If you can get it over a period of months, then we could get it down to a rate that we could handle. Remember, let's not lose the forest for the trees, the overwhelming majority of people will self-resolve. Many people have had coronavirus, didn't even know it. We're talking about people who would need hospitalization, need acute beds. We're talking about senior citizens, immune compromised and people with underlying illnesses.
On March 23, 2020, New York announced an increase in positive “COVID” cases to 20,875, and said that the best way to reduce the spread of “COVID” was to do more testing.
Confirms 5,707 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 20,875;
"We know that the most effective way to reduce the rate of spread of the virus is to reduce density and increase testing, and we have a plan in place to do just that,
New York is currently testing more than 16,000 people per day, more than any other state and more than China and South Korea on a per capital basis.
March 23, 2020.
Number of positive cases, we are up to 20,000 statewide. 5,000 new cases, which is obviously a significant increase. And as I say that trajectory is going up, the wave is still going up, and we have a lot of work to do to get that rate down and get the hospital capacity up. You see it spreading across the state, the way it spread across the nation, and that will continue, my guess is every day. We have, right now on hospitalizations, 13 percent are being hospitalized. None of these numbers are good, but relatively that is a good number. Remember it's the rate of hospitalizations and the rate of people needing ICU beds. 13 percent is down, it has gone as high as 20 percent, 21 percent, hovered around 18 percent, 17 percent, 13 percent is a good number. Of that number, 24 percent require the ICU beds. The ICU beds are very important because those are the ventilators.
Most impacted states, you can see that New York far and away has the bulk of the problem. And that's relevant for the federal government, that's relevant for the Congressional delegation that is arguing for federal funds. Fund the need. Fund the need. New York, we have 20,000 cases, New Jersey, 1,900. California, 1,800. So, proportionately, in absolute terms, New York has by far the greatest need in the nation.
March 23, 2020. Cuomo lobbied the CDC to send them more ventilators. (If they had, the death total would have been much higher).
I have been saying for weeks, we need 30,000 ventilators. I've been saying it publicly, I've been requesting it from the federal agencies, HHS, Secretary Azar sent 500 ventilators, we need 30,000 ventilators. If you don't have the ventilator, a person who needs the ventilator will die without the ventilator. It's a respiratory disease. And we're not getting the ventilators. I've been saying, institute the darn Federal Procurement Act -
March 23, 2020. As the State of New York accelerated “COVID” PCR testing, they doubled the increase of COVID cases, and greatly increased COVID deaths, while Governor Cuomo called for more ventilators.
Governor Cuomo: Well, this is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and look, I've been in the federal government, I did disaster work, all across this country, all across the world, we did disaster recovery as you know. I've been in this state, handled everything in this state. The hours don't matter. It's the consequence here, it's the consequence here, Christopher, the numbers are big. And it's life and death. And if they are anywhere close to right on these projections of how quickly these numbers are going to grow, the number of people who we're going to lose can easily be in the thousands. And god forbid we say, we could have saved them if we had the right equipment. That's what keeps me up at night. And that's why I'm as strident as I am about these ventilators and the urgency of the ventilators and the equipment. Because it literally is life and death, you see it coming, it's two weeks, three weeks, four weeks down the road, but it's coming, that wave is coming.
Chris Cuomo: What do you say to the people on the, ah, we misjudged it, the numbers aren't going to be that bad, this was too much preparation.
Governor Cuomo: Yeah, they're wrong, they're going to be wrong, because people will die and the numbers will be inarguable. Look, I don't make any political decisions on this. This is all follow the science, follow the numbers, follow the health professionals. You look at those numbers increasing every day, doubling every 2 1/2 days, just look at the trajectory, dot, dot, dot, dot, connect the dots, right? And then you tell me that anyone is over hyping this situation.
March 24, 2020. Again Cuomo reiterates that only the “vulnerable” would die, which likely translates into those receiving Medicaid.
"Eighty percent are going to self-resolve. Twenty percent are going to need hospitals. It's not about that. It's about a very small group of people in this population who are the most vulnerable. They are older, they have compromised immune systems, they are HIV positive, or they have emphysema, or they have an underlying heart condition, or they have bad asthma, or they're recovering from cancer. Those are the people who are going to be vulnerable to the mortality of this disease, and it is only 1% or 2% of the population. But then why all of this? Because it's 1% or 2% of the population. It's lives, it's grandmothers and grandfathers and sisters and brothers.
And you start to see the cases on TV. It's a 40-year-old woman who recovered from breast cancer but had a compromised immune system and four children at home.
March 24, 2020.
"While the number of new cases continues to increase unabated, we are exercising all options as aggressively as we can including ramping up testing, isolating those who are infected, closing down nonessential businesses and building hospital surge capacity," Governor Cuomo said. "The State cannot do this alone, and the blunt truth is we need more ventilators and healthcare equipment fast, and we need the federal government to actually use the Defense Production Act to get private manufacturers to help build this critical equipment. I'm not asking the federal government to help New York just to help New York — I'm asking for everyone. New York is the first — if we learn how to blunt the impact here and bend the curve here, we can help other states who are next. Let's learn how to act as one nation."
Finally, the Governor confirmed 4,790 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 25,665 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 25,665 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:
March 24, 2020. Governor Cuomo begged for the CDC to give him 20,000 more ventilators as patients were dying on ventilators.
Governor Cuomo: "We need the federal help, and we need the federal help now. Also, there is a smart way to do this. Deploy the ventilators around the country as they are needed. Different regions have different curbs of the infection. New York is the canary in the coal mine. New York is going first. We have the highest and the fastest rate of infection. What happens to New York is going to wind up happening to California, and Washington state, and Illinois, it's just a matter of time. We're just getting there first."
Cuomo: "I will take personal responsibility for transporting the 20,000 ventilators anywhere in this country that they want, once we are past our apex. But don't leave them sitting in a stockpile, and say well we're going to wait and see how we allocate them across the country. That's not how this works. They're not simultaneous apexes. They are a curve that is individual to that region. Deploy to that region, address that region, and then move on to the next. And I'm not only talking about ventilators. ... I'll send healthcare workers. I'll send out professionals who've dealt with it and who know, all around the country."
March 24, 2020. Cuomo predicts that the “APEX” will occur in 14 to 21 days. This projection came from John Hopkins, which will be covered in another article.
And the most challenging point about the increasing numbers is where the numbers will apex. What is the high point of the numbers. And the apex is the point where we have to be able to manage the capacity. We had projected the apex at about 110,000 hospital beds, and that's the number I've been talking about. The new projection suggests that the number of hospital beds needed could be as high as 140,000 hospital beds. So, flatten the curve, flatten the curve. We haven't flattened the curve and the curve is actually increasing. That means the number of hospital beds, which is at 53,000 beds, 3,000 ICU beds. The anticipated need now for the height of the curve is 140,000 hospital beds, and approximately 40,000 intensive care unit beds.
Those are troubling and astronomical numbers, and as I mentioned, are higher numbers than have been previously projected. We are exercising all options as aggressively as we can. That rate of increase, that apex, they project at this time could be approximately 14 to 21 days away. So not only do we have a spike in the increase, when you spike the increase in cases, it accelerates the apex to a point where it could be as close at 14 to 21 days
March 24, 2020.
“We've procured about 7,000 ventilators. We need at a minimum an additional 30,000 ventilators. You cannot buy them. You cannot find them. Every state is trying to get them, other countries are trying to get them.”
March 24, 2020. Cuomo says that if they can’t get the ventilators in 14 days before the “APEX,” they are no good to them. In other words, New York was sticking to a predetermined script on when the numbers would fall after a predetermined “APEX.” They could only going to accelerate deaths for a few more weeks, and wanted to increase deaths in this window by as much as possible.
“General Motors and Ford, and people are willing to get into the ventilator business. It does us no good if they start to create a ventilator in three weeks or four weeks or five weeks. We're looking at an apex of 14 days. If we don't have the ventilators in 14 days it does us no good. The federal Defense Procurement Act can actually help companies, because the federal government can say look I need you to into this business.”
March 24, 2020.
“Also, the federal government has 20,000 ventilators in the federal stockpile. Secretary Azar runs an agency called HHS - Health and Human Services. I asked the Secretary, "Look at the first word in the title of the agency you run. It is health. Your first priority is health. You have 20,000 ventilators in the stockpile. Release the ventilators to New York." How can we be in a situation where you can have New Yorkers possibly dying because they can't get a ventilator, but a federal agency is saying I'm going to leave the ventilators in the stockpile. I mean have we really come to that point. Also, we have to be smarter about the way this is being done. The federal government has to prioritize the resources. Look at where the problems are across this nation. California has 2,800 cases. Washington state, 2,200 cases. Florida, 1,200 cases. Massachusetts, about 800 cases. New York has 25,000 cases. New York has 25,000 cases. It has ten times the problem that California has. Ten times the problem that Washington state has. You prioritize resources, and your activity, and your actions to where they are needed. And New York, you are looking at a problem that is of a totally different magnitude and dimension.”
March 24, 2020. Cuomo announces that the State of New York is conducting more “COVID” PCR tests per capital than anyone in the world (with their own PCR test, after the CDC returned zero cases to them in February).
“These are the numbers from today. You can see our testing rate is now over 90,000 people who have been tested. That's the highest rate of testing in the country and per capita on the globe. We did 12,000 new tests since yesterday. Number of positive cases, state of New York - 25,675, 4,700 of those new cases tested.”
March 24, 2020. Cuomo begs for more ventilators from the Federal Government.
Governor Cuomo: "We need the federal help, and we need the federal help now. Also, there is a smart way to do this. Deploy the ventilators around the country as they are needed. Different regions have different curbs of the infection. New York is the canary in the coal mine. New York is going first. We have the highest and the fastest rate of infection. What happens to New York is going to wind up happening to California, and Washington state, and Illinois, it's just a matter of time. We're just getting there first."
Cuomo: "I will take personal responsibility for transporting the 20,000 ventilators anywhere in this country that they want, once we are past our apex. But don't leave them sitting in a stockpile, and say well we're going to wait and see how we allocate them across the country.
March 24, 2020. Cuomo makes comparisons to the “spikes” of cases and deaths in other nations. This topic will be covered in another article.
Let me take you through some facts today, because we have some new facts, changes in certain stances that are not encouraging and I want to make sure people understand them and we react accordingly. The increase in the number of cases continues unabated. As a matter of fact, the rate of increase has gone up. We have the most sophisticated people you can get doing projections on this. They've been studying projections from China, South Korea, Italy, places all across this country. And what they're now seeing is that the rate of cases, the rate of new infections, is doubling about every three days.
March 24, 2020.
Those are troubling and astronomical numbers, and as I mentioned, are higher numbers than have been previously projected. We are exercising all options as aggressively as we can. That rate of increase, that apex, they project at this time could be approximately 14 to 21 days away.
March 24, 2020.
Again, the apex could be here in as little as 14-21 days and you're talking about a very significant logistical operational movement to increase that number of hospital beds and do everything that you need to do related to the increased hospital beds.
March 24, 2020.
As far as beds, we have told the hospitals, I'm going to speak to every hospital administrator today, hospitals must increase their capacity by 50 percent. The goal is to ask them to try to increase it by 100 percent. Remember we have 53,000 beds, we need 140,000 beds.
To be continued. Please ask questions and comment in the comments section. I know this is a bit rough and brief, but it is very much key to what happened and has not been reported as far as I know.
Charles Wright
This has been, and remains, a covert effort to harm and kill Americans, with New York once again targeted as ground zero.