Bret Stephens Bills Coronavirus As Trump’s ‘Chernobyl’: ‘Some Things You Can’t Lie Your Way Through’

January 26, 2020

“I want all New Yorkers to know we are prepared and continue to take all necessary steps to keep people informed and safe​,” Governor Cuomo said. “I have directed the Department of Health and other state agencies to continue working closely with the CDC, the World Health Organization.

January 28, 2020

“While we continue to closely monitor the spread of this novel coronavirus, I have directed our Department of Health to continue communicating with and providing updates to our local communities, healthcare providers, colleges, universities and New York companies with locations or business interests in China,” Governor Cuomo said. “​My message to New Yorkers is: take this coronavirus seriously, take proper precautions, stay informed.

January 30, 2020

“New York does not have one single confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, but we are taking every necessary precaution to protect against its spread into our state. We have been here before,” Governor Cuomo said. “I am urging New Yorkers to take basic precautions against the flu, such as regular hand washing and avoiding close contact with people who are sick. These measures will also help people avoid coming in contact with the novel coronavirus.”

February 2, 2020

“Thank you very much Doctor. So the long and the short of it is the federal government has mandated certain actions. We are implementing those actions. Before the federal government announced anything, we were very diligent. We take situations like this very seriously. We understand the density of New York, the complexity of New York. Whatever happens internationally, it winds up at our doorstep relatively quickly. So, we have seen situations like this before. We are very proactive. I don’t take anything for granted. Precaution is always the best practice. Preparedness is always the best practice, and that is what we do here in New York. At the same time, we have to keep this in perspective. But also feel confident that our Health Department and this administration are prepared and ready​… There is no reason to have an inordinate amount of fear… ​Take every one seriously, but don’t have an overly anxious reaction to any one situation.”

February 7, 2020

“Governor Cuomo: Well said, Commissioner. And just as the Commissioner said, yesterday we were contacted by the federal department of HHS and CDC on the cruise ship that was coming into the New York Harbor. There have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus on that cruise ship. Four people are being tested, but there were no confirmed cases and we’re working with them on that. And just to reiterate what the Commissioner, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York thus far. We would expect as time goes on that we will find a case of Coronavirus if you look at the spread of it around the world, we would expect that and we are prepared for that. ​We have taken a lot of time to put protocols in place and quarantine procedures, et cetera. But again, I understand the fear. We went through this before: Zika virus, Ebola, et cetera. Let me turn it over to Rick Cotton, who is the Executive Director of the Port Authority, who can speak about the Coronavirus and how it’s affecting flights, et cetera.”

February 10, 2020

February 26, 2020

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a $40 million appropriation for the New York State Department of Health to hire additional staff, procure equipment… ​But let’s have some connection to the reality of the situation, and as the doctor said, catching the flu right now is a much greater risk than anything that has anything to do with Coronavirus​and any other resources necessary to respond to the potential novel coronavirus pandemic

“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.”

“As a matter of perspective, you take in one of these situations very seriously, and that’s what government should do. Whether it’s SARS or Ebola or Zika or Legionnaire’s, we took every moment very seriously. If you prepare correctly, you’ll have less of an issue when or if a situation develops into something that is more problematic. I was at the Jewish Community Center this past Sunday. It was a bomb threat – an email bomb threat – something I heard when I was in the federal government in emergency management, they said, “The threat that you don’t take seriously is the one that becomes serious.” ​So we take every situation like this seriously and we prepare for it, but from a public point of view, I want to keep the perspective right. Yes, we’re preparing, but this situation is not a situation that should cause undue fear among people. Yes, it is a serious illness, has a higher mortality rate than the flu, et cetera, but not like some of these situations. We had 17,000 people in the State of New York last week that had the flu – 17,000. So ​we’ve dealt with situations like this in the past and we’ll deal with it again​.”

February 28, 2020

“Well, that’s all you can ask. Let’s talk about this because you’re right. It is balance and what we say is important because you don’t want to panic people, but you don’t want people to think you’re not telling the truth either, right or government is misinformed or taking it lightly. And I’ve spent a lot of time on this and I’m going to spend more time on it. It’s number one on my list. It is exactly what you said. It is preparedness. No expert can tell you what the trajectory is. None of them. There are scenarios. Some are the simpler situation, it’s seasonal, it works its way out. And remember, we’ve gone through this before. Ebola, Zika, West Nile, Legionnaires disease, H1N1.”

“​Now this has a higher mortality rate than the flu.​ But it’s not Ebola either right. It’s not that contracting it is a very high probability of mortality. But if you take the worst case scenarios they are problematic and they are disruptive. ​And

I talked to the Vice President yesterday, Pence, who the President put in charge of it. And I saw the President on a press conference and they said, “Why did you put the Vice President when you had the Health and Human Services Secretary.” This is not going to be a Health and Human Services agency function. To be prepared, you have to mobilize multiple systems, right. Just start to run the video tape in your mind. People are coming in to the airport at JFK. They’re coming from a place that may have the virus. You now have more countries that have the virus. So more people are coming in.” 

March 1, 2020

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.

March 2, 2020

Anthony Mason: Governor, how effective do you expect that test to be? Do you have enough? Will you have enough? You have to be prepared for it and being prepared, Jay, is not as easy as it sounds, right… This evening we learned of the first positive case of novel coronavirus —or COVID-19 — in New York State.​ There is no cause for surprise — this was expected. As I said from the beginning, it was a matter of when, not if there would be a positive case of novel coronavirus in New York​ ​There is no reason for undue anxiety — the general risk remains low in New York. We are diligently managing this situation and will continue to provide information as it becomes available​.”

Governor Cuomo: Good question. We just got the federal authority to do the testing, and we are now going to scale up very, very quickly. So, we’ll have the ability to test and, again, in this quote, unquote, containment phase. It’s about the detection and then the isolation and it’s the mobilization of the health care system more than anything. Beyond that, it’s a communication issue to people, you know. We want to have a healthy diligence about this issue, but we don’t want an unnecessary anxiety and we don’t want people overreacting. So that’s what this is really about to me.

Tony Dokoupil: Can you confirm that she lives in Manhattan? If that is the case, have you rule ruled out the possibility of something like we saw in China, where a city or region is sealed off as a containment method?

Governor Cuomo: .

Again, this is not — by the way, Ebola was much more frightening than this issue. We’ve gone

through viruses that are frankly more frightening than this, so we need a little context for all of this, a little perspective. We have to treat it. We have to be serious, but the fear, in my opinion, is outpacing reason at this point.

Click here.

March 2, 2020

“Also, we’re extrapolating from what happened in China and other countries. ​We have the best healthcare system in the world here. And excuse our arrogance as New Yorkers, I speak for the Mayor also on this one. We are fully coordinated, we are fully mobilized, this is all about mobilization of a public health

system. Getting the testing done, getting the information out and then having the healthcare resources to treat people who are going to need help. Again, that is going to be primarily senior citizens, people who are debilitated. And we’re going to have a special effort for our nursing homes, et cetera, congregate facilities where senior citizens are being treated.”

Click here.

March 3, 2020

​She does live in Manhattan​. She is isolated in her apartment and there’s no cause to do anything but that.​ We think we have the best healthcare system on the planet right here in New York.​ ​ So, when you’re saying what happened in other countries vs. what happened here, we don’t even think it’s going to be as bad as it was in other countries​.

Brooke Baldwin: I know a lot of New Yorkers are hanging on your every word, we live on top of each other, we’re on trains, the concern, you say there will be more community spread. Of course the concern is what do you do when you’re living in New York City? Just quickly, your advice.

Governor Cuomo: You live your life. Yes, you take extra precautions, hand sanitizer, etcetera, but we have 15,000 people in New York in hospitals today, Brooke. Fifteen thousand, for the flu. That’s the normal flu. Are you going to see this virus spread? Yes, and this obsession of one case, one case, new case, new case – you will see dozens and dozens and dozens of cases. That is going to happen.

We’re doing more testing. We have the hospital beds, and the mortality rate, the lethality of this disease is double the normal flu rate but it is manageable although unfortunate and that’s what this is, if people actually believed it. The fear factor is in some ways harder to deal with than the reality. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

January 24, 2020

“IT’S IMPORTANT TO GO ABOUT YOUR LIVES​”

“So, it’s really important for New Yorkers to understand that based on what we know right now, But we do want people to take the same basic precautions we often urge – to be mindful of just basic hygiene steps like washing your hands frequently and obviously to be mindful if there is any scenario where you might have had prolonged contact with someone who has this disease.”
….
“Yes people should enjoy them as they always are, but this is a situation of individual vigilance. If someone has these symptoms, and might have a connection back to Wuhan take it seriously, and act on it, just get to a medical professional right away. I think we are hoping and praying that’s very few people, we’d be shocked if that’s no one, honestly, we do think we’ll see some cases here, but the faster people get to a medical professional, the greater likelihood this would be contained.”

March 1, 2020

March 2, 2020

“​it’s important to just go about your lives, continue living as you have because there is no indication that casual contact with some who is infected could lead to others contracting this disease​.​ Lunar New Year, ​I’m going to be participating myself. I want to urge everyone to be part of those celebrations​.”

DE BLASIO​ ​TWEET

​March 10, 2020

MSNBC interview
De Blasio: Go about life as you normally would. Transmission is not that easy

De BLASIO: We have 25 cases as of this morning. We care deeply about each of those individuals, but against the backdrop of 8.6 million people, and for the vast majority of New Yorkers, life is going on pretty normally right now. We want to encourage that. (edit) if you’re under 50 and you’re healthy, which is most New Yorkers, there’s very little threat here. This disease, even if you were to get it, basically acts like a common cold or flu. And transmission is not that easy.

​March 10, 2020
Grabien
De Blasio: “Transmission is not that easy”

“We have to look out for people here, especially those who are over 50 years old and have pre-existing conditions, like lung disease, heart disease, cancer, diabetes. These are the folks we really, really need to be careful for. But if you’re under 50 and you’re healthy, which is most New Yorkers, there’s very little threat here. This disease, even if you were to get it, basically acts like a common cold or flu.

No. It takes direct person-to-person contact, direct transmission of fluids.”

NYC HEALTH COMMISSIONER DR. OXIRIS BARBOT

February 2, 2020
“The risk is low. Keep going out in public​”