Gov. Cuomo pleasure to be with you. Today is day 62. Feels like just yesterday. Before we look at the numbers, i just want people to recall the context for these numbers and remember what we have accomplished. We were faced with this decision where the infection rate numbers were going straight up. Thatwas only 30 days ago cases, thenumber of infection rate, everything was going straight up. Projections, national projections, state projections, that number would have just continued to go straight up. And that is why all the projections, national projections, state projections, local projections turned out to be incorrect. Excuse me. Because they were all believing that that line was going to continue to keep going up. When happened is, new yorkers, americans, changed reality. Literally change reality. Literally changed reality. They literally changed the path of the virus spread and reversed the spread, and that is what the closedown procedures did. That is what the masks have done. That is what the social distancing has done. And new yorkers and all across this country, you saw that number change from that upward trajectory to the downward trajectory. That shift in the trajectory reduced by about 100,000 the number of new yorkers who would have been hospitalized. 100,000 hospitalized. To be hospitalized, you have to be seriously ill. A portion of those 100,000 would have passed away. So all of this inconvenience, all this turmoil, for what . To keep 100,000 people out of hospitals. That is for what. And the 100,000 people in hospitals would have overwhelmed the hospital system, it would have been chaotic, where italy was, and a number of those hundred thousands would have died. So remember that context. And not just for the retrospective, but for the prospective. Our past actions changed the past trajectory. Our present actions will determine the future trajectory. It is not clear. It is cause and effect. You tell me what we do today, i will tell you the number of people sick tomorrow. So every day we get up, every day everyone says, oh, my gosh, i have to do this again. Yes, but what you do today is going to determine the number of sick tomorrow. And new yorkers have continued to do what they have to do, and you see that number of hospitalizations dropping. And that is all good news, and that is a credit to the community and the social conscience and responsibility of new yorkers. The question now is, as we are on the decline, how fast is the decline, and how low will the number actually wind up . Right now, we are at about 1000 new cases per day, in the 900s, 954, 973, and day before that, it was 1076. That looks like the number is flattening and plateauing at about 900 to 1000 cases, three days to five days, between 900 and 1100. That is still too high a number of new cases to have every day. It is not where we were. It is a lot better than where we were, for sure, but 1000 new cases every day is still a very high infection rate. It is still a burden on the hospital system, so we now want to take it to the next level. Lets drill down on those 1000 new cases. Where are they coming from . Why is the infection rate continuing . Who is getting infected . And lets get more targeted in our response, right . We are fighting this statewide, but you have to wage the battle and wage the war on many fronts, the statewide battle, now that we have it basically stabilized and on the decline, the enemy is on the run, the virus is reducing, lets get more refined and targeted. And i am going to be speaking with the hospitals this afternoon and say we want to get more specific information on those new cases that are coming in the door. Where are they coming from . Who are they . To see if we can come up with a more specific target. If you look at the past few days where the cases have been coming from, this is a threeday what they call rolling average, but 17 from manhattan, much of it correlates to population, but much of it also correlates with downstate new york. 17 manhattan, 17 kings, 12 bronx, 11 queens, 10 nassau, 7 westchester suffix, so it is the downstate region, and upstate in neary county. So it gives you a snapshot of where the cases are coming from, but we need more specific information to have a specific battle plan. Literally, where do the new cases come from . Are they essential workers . Are they people staying home and getting infected by a Family Member . Or, are they essential workers who are still traveling and possibly getting infected at work . Where do they work . How do they commute . Is this a question of getting infected on Public Transportation . We Just Announced new subway and bus protocols. Where in the state are these being transferred from a nursing home . What is their sex, age, Previous Health status and demographics . Lets get more specific information from the hospitals to see if we can come up with a strategy more tailored to the reduction of these 1000 cases per day. The number of deaths, 289, lower than it has been, but still tragic and terrible, and all the good numbers, the good news for me, every day, this number just wipes that all away. We have announced a statewide policy for our schools. We did it last march 18. We said we were going to close schools all across the state k12 and Higher Education schools, we waived what was called the 180 day requirement, which is a state regulation schools had to have 180 days of teaching. Schools then transferred to Distance Learning programs, Meal Delivery services, child care options for essential workers. That has actually worked out well, not perfectly. We had to do it in a rush, but there are lessons we can learn here that could change teaching Going Forward and teaching in these types of situations Going Forward, but it did work. Basically, it functioned well, and teachers did a phenomenal job stepping up to do this. It was a hardship on everyone, but we made the best of the situation. Colleges and universities were also moved to Distance Learning. Campuses were closed, unless a student really needed housing. Schools, obviously, by definition, have higher density, have transportation issues, kids getting on buses. We did not have the Protection Measures to put in place. You have 700 Public School districts, 4800 schools in this state, and then you have 1800 private schools, 89 suny and cuny campuses, 100 private campuses for a total of 4. 2 million students. The decisions on the Education System are obviously critically important. We must protect our children. Every parent and citizen feels that. We must protect our students and educators. Given the circumstances we are in and the precautions that would have to be put in place to come up with a plan to reopen schools with all those new protocols, how do you operate a school thats socially distanced without masks, without a Transportation System with a lower number of students on it, how would you get that plan up and running . We dont think it is possible to do that in a way that would keep our children, students, and educators safe, so we are going to have the schools remain closed for the rest of the year. We will continue the Distance Learning programs. Schools have asked about Summer School and whether we will have attendance in schools for Summer Schools. That decision will be made by the end of the month. Again, nobody can predict what the situation is going to be three weeks or four weeks from now, so we are trying to stage decisions at intervals that give us the information but also enough time for people to make preparations they need to make, so any decisions on Summer School will be made by the end of the month. In the meantime, meal programs will continue and Child Care Services for essential workers will continue. We want schools to start developing a plan to reopen, and the plan has to have protocols in place that incorporate everything that we are now doing in society and everything that we learned. We are going to be asking businesses to come up with plans that safeguard workers. When we reopen, we need schools to come up with plans, also, that bring the precautions into the schoolroom. That is also for colleges and the state will approve those plans. Related issues that we need to discuss and Pay Attention to, this covid crisis has caused significant disruption and many unintended consequences, and ancillary issues that have developed, and one of them is when you have people who are put in this situation immediately with no notice, it has caused Serious Mental Health issues. You have anxiety, depression, insomnia, loneliness, that feeling of isolation. We are seeing the use of drugs and Alcohol Consumption go up. This is a chronic problem. If you are feeling these issues, you are not alone. As a matter of fact, half of all americans have said that their Mental Health has been negatively impacted. Dont underestimate the stress of the situation, and it happens on a lot of levels. Three out of four say that their sleep has been affected. You do not know where your next paycheck is coming from. You do not know if your job is going to exist. You are at work one day, and then next day, they say everything is closed, stay in the house. You are in that house, in a confined situation, or in an apartment and in a confined situation, and you cannot get out. It is difficult for emotional support. We have a hotline set up. People should not be shy in any way or have any second thoughts about calling for help. It is a pervasive problem, and people should make a call and get the help if they need the help. We also see, in line with what we are talking about, a dramatic increase in the incidence of Domestic Violence. There was a 15 increase in march. A 30 increase in april. March is when this started, 15 . April, 30 . That is a frightening rate and level of increase. Again, new yorkers in need, we have a Domestic Violence helpline. 8449972121. You can call, just discuss the issue. You do not have to give your identity or say where you live, but people who need help should reach out. There is no shame in reaching out and saying i need help. This is a national epidemic. It is a statewide epidemic. Ask for help, and we are here to help. We are especially concerned about these issues for frontline workers. I mean, just think about what the frontline workers are going through. Think about what the Health Care Workers are going through. They are working extended hours. They are seeing a large number of people die. Theyre working in frightening situations. They are worried about their own health. They are worried if they get infected, they then have to go home, worry if they are infected and bringing that infection home. So this is a terribly, stressful, difficult time, especially for the frontline workers, and we want them to know that we not only appreciate what they are doing, but we are there to support them, right . Saying thank you is nice. Acting in gratitude is even nicer. We have a special emotional support hotline for our essential workers. And we are also going to direct all insurers to waive any costsharing copay deductibles for Mental Health services for essential workers, which means the Mental Health services will be free for frontline workers. And they will be at no cost. Too many people, too many families have said to me, i would go for services, but i do not want to pay the cost. I cannot afford it. I do not want to take that money from my family. That is gone. There is no cost to get Mental Health services. So just wipe that reason away, and get the help that you need. It is even in the best interest of your family. Last point, personal opinion, who said when life knocks you on your rear, learn, grow up, and get back up. Was it a. J. Parkinson . It was me. Nobody ever said that, it was me. When life knocks you on your rear, learn, grow, and get back up. This has been a difficult situation for everyone, but when life knocks you on your rear, learn and grow, and we will collectively learn and grow. We are going to learn many difficult lessons from this situation. We are going to learn about Public Health threats we never saw before. We never anticipated. We never actualized. Everyone talked about global pandemics in that possibility, but until it happens, people do not really get it. Our hospital system, how it works in an emergency, how teleeducation works, how telemedicine works, how to keep society functioning during an emergency, how you communicate to people the dangers of a situation without panicking people because you still need essential workers to come out and do their job. You do not want to panic people where they say, i am not leaving the house, but you need to communicate the facts so people act responsibly. How do you do that in a short period of time . What do you do about Public Transportation . Learn the whole lesson with the downstate Transportation System. There will be a lot to learn from this, which we will learn, and we will be the better for. I believe that. That is part of life. In the meantime, we have to go day to day, and we try to make the best of a bad situation. You try to find that Silver Lining through the dark clouds. All of us try to do it in our own way. Everyone is struggling with it in their own way. And that is all across the board. In many ways, this is the great equalizer. Doesnt matter who you are, where you are, this impacts your life. Dramatically. Personally, if you work at it, maybe you can find a little Silver Lining. I am sitting there last night with my daughter, michaela, the baby, now 22, and she says to me, you know, dad, think about it, i have spent more time with you now than i will probably spend with you in the rest of my adult life. I said, wow, what does that mean . She said, think about it. I have been with you for over a month. I will not be with you for another month for the rest of my adult life, which is kind of jarring because i still think of her as my baby. You know what . That is probably right. She is 22. She is going to go off and do whatever she does, and then you see her at holidays for a few hours, maybe you steal a saturday once in a while. It reminded me of the harry chapin song the cat in the cradle, from a great man, great new yorker, too. But these are, with all the bizarreness, i have not been able to see my mother in two months, but i have my daughter probably for a longer period of time than i will probably have for the rest of her adult life. That is probably true, so you try to find the Silver Lining, you try to stay positive. We stay socially distant but spiritually connected. New yorkers have been so supportive of each other. You can feel it. There is a spirit of community and mutuality. People are there to help one another. People understand everybody is stressed. You look at the way people have complied with these rules, as annoying as they are, masks, six feet this. That is out of respect for another. I love the metaphor of the mask. The mask does not protect me. I wear the mask to protect you. What a beautiful sign of caring, of mutuality. I wear a mask to protect you. That is the spirit, even in this terrible time of difficulty. Yes, you can be socially distanced, but you can be spiritually connected and close in certain ways you have never been before. I believe that is where we are. Because we are new york tough. Which means tough, smart, united, disciplined and loving. Questions . What about submitting reopening plans . If school start to reopen as early as fall, possibly sooner, we are hearing that in in new york city the teachers are looking at Remote Learning possibly in the fall . We are wondering about the timeline and what could happen at the earliest . Gov. Cuomo there will be no opening of any school in the state for the remainder of the academic calendar year. We have to decide on Summer School. That decision will be made by the end of may. There is no decision on the fall, because the fall is a long time away. When do they have to submit plans by . Gov. Cuomo it depends on when they will open. They should start preparing their plans now, because this will be a real exercise. We are talking about companiescturing socially distanced, Construction Companies socially distanced. How does a school socially distance . This is a bizarre set up, right . Look at this room. How do you run a school like this . How many more rooms would you need to do this . How many more buses do you need to socially distance . How about a cafeteria . There is a whole set of questions. How about a dorm room . They should start working on those plans now. Just a followup. Do you think that teachers can realistically do this . Kids are kids. They are going to want to run around and be together. Gov. Cuomo thats a good question. Talking to educators across the state, you can come up with a plan. Thats very hard. You talk about spatial requirements. If you require this in a classroom, how many classes do you need . Then theres the question of k12, and how do i get students not to socially distant . Ce . We are going to err on the side of caution. For Summer School, you would need to see my opinion, a drop or stabilization of the infection rate for a time, because kids are going to be kids. I think you are right. Schools are going to lose money. How are they going to manage all of this . They dont even have the money for this. Gov. Cuomo you couldnt get them all classrooms anyway. You couldnt build more classrooms in a way that would have any difference for Summer School or the fall. Money is going to be tight, depending on what washington does. They are doing Remote Learning. Fiscal consequences are going to be mixed because of this time. Some ways they save, some ways it costs money. Sorry to harp on this, but do you anticipate a decision in terms of businesses on costs . Will you announce it prior . Gov. Cuomo we will announce it prior to may 15. It has been two months since the first case was reported. You spoke today of what we have accomplished. Yet there are 18,000 people dead, 300,000 people sick. How would you evaluate your performance during this crisis . Gov. Cuomo trying my best. Outdoor areas, should we expect that to happen as well . Gov. Cuomo we are aware of what new jersey and connecticut are doing. We are trying to coordinate with those states. I have said from day one, you will not have uniform policies across states, but knowing what other states are going to do, it will have a significant effect on a neighboring state. Knowing what they do is helpful , and then at the appropriate time we will make those decisions. Decisions around summer activities are very difficult. Look at the tension. You want to get people out of their homes but you want to keep the infection rate down. You have Mental Health issues , Domestic Violence issues, a lot going on. You do want a relief valve. Its going to get hot in the summer and you want a level of activity. You dont want to overwhelm a neighboring state keeping everything closed, but you dont want to have high density and violations of social distancing. That is what we are trying to work through for summer activities. We have a little more time and we are talking about that now. Jesse, to go back to your question, i can tell you this. New yorkers did an extraordinary job and reduced the rate of hospitalizations by about 100,000. And the saved thousands of lives. Kudos to new yorkers. Is there going to be an investigation into that center and more investigation into these suspected deaths . Gov. Cuomo we have a joint effort between the attorney general and department of health that is going to systemically investigate how Nursing Homes handle this investigation, and handle this situation, and specifically individual problem areas we have seen. That will certainly be part of the attorney general investigation. We have 613 Nursing Homes and investigate anything that has come up. If theres a concern about we will go in my find out, and report back. Is there a way to connect those to hospitals . Is there going to be more of a uniform way of reporting these deaths . There is a formal process of how we go in to investigate and find out what happened, the events, what we can do to prevent that in the future. We are addressing all of them, whether it is tied to a nursing home, hospital, or both. Gov. Cuomo just so you are clear on the facts. We report hospital deaths and nursing home deaths separately. That is on the slide every day. The question we are now asking the hospitals, one of the questions i posed, was someone transferred from a nursing home to a hospital and then passed away in the hospital . We want to know that. That is your question. That is a good question. And we will be asking that today. And i will get on the phone with the hospitals and asked that question. What about protecting essential workers, disinfecting in the subway cars and buses. But we are hearing from is essential workers in Grocery Stores who say they are overwhelmed by people rushing to the stores, not Wearing Masks, not practicing social distancing. So i guess the question is, should the stores be refusing to allow customers in who are not Wearing Masks . And if an employee is fearful of showing up for work, can they be denied Unemployment Benefits . Gov. Cuomo the Unemployment Benefits, i do not know. Maybe it is a legal question. I dont know. Maybe melissa or rob would know. Or we can check. On the Grocery Stores, if i am a private Grocery Store owner and we have these social distancing requirements in place and masks in place, i think, unless the lawyers want to argue with me, i think i would deny admission to a person who is not wearing a mask. You could endanger my patrons, you could endanger my employees. I would do that. I do not know about the behavior inside of the store. But i think the private Grocery Store owner would be in their rights. You have talked about Summer School for those students, those who fail or for everyone . Gov. Cuomo Summer School, they will do Remote Learning. They have to continue to do meals. We are talking about Summer School attendance in the building. Can you explain the discrepancy between the nursing home reported deaths, because as a followup to morgans question, that specific thought, there is only 13 reported deaths from that nursing home on the tracker. However, we have a report they had 46 deaths specific to covid19, potentially more, in the 50s. So what is the explanation for the discrepancy and what are the consequences for that . Gov. Cuomo what is the name of this nursing home . It is called the isabela Geriatric Center in manhattan. Gov. Cuomo anyone else . We asked other Nursing Homes to more detailed data. What they were doing in some cases, and not others, confirmed versus unconfirmed cases. We asked them to go back and say what were confirmed and unconfirmed. Sometimes the number is higher because those are unconfirmed cases and they put into certain reporting. We asked of them for the confirmed deaths at first. But what you are talking about, we asked them to include unconfirmed numbers as well. We are finding that they also included unconfirmed. We are putting together a dataset that has unconfirmed and confirmed, but that takes time to tease out. This is from the Nursing Homes. But there is a large gap. 13 versus 50 deaths. That is a large number. Are there consequences in case Nursing Homes are not reporting the accurate numbers and what are those . Commissioner . This is, as jim mentioned we have two parts, but this is an evolving situation, the data coming in, and we do track it. If there is a concern about a nursing home, we will look into that as well. What penalties . They have to attest to the fact that the numbers are true and accurate with every report. If the commission at the to promote health fines that there is intentional misleading, they can revoke their license, they can find penalties under the Public Health law, they will send people in. Under this instance, the department of health will investigate to see, like we have done with others. Sometimes, as we have said, this was an emerging situation and they were mistakes made. If there is potential intentional misleading, the department of health will investigate those and do the appropriate actions. Gov. Cuomo let me give you the answer. They are giving you two sets of numbers, right . Confirmed covid19 deaths is one number. Then unconfirmed, possible covid deaths, which is a vague category. Maybe the person died of covid, but we are not sure. So unconfirmed deaths, which is a vague category to define. And hospitals are doing the same thing, by the way. At the local governments have to submit unconfirmed, potential covid deaths. That is a little squishy by definition. And then i can see where there is a vagueness in that category. But they submit these numbers under penalty of perjury. You violate, you commit fraud, that is a criminal offense, period. So they can be prosecuted criminally for fraud. On any of these reporting numbers. Why is the number so high . Are you concerned, because you have said that nursing home deaths, that the Nursing Homes it will be like fire through dry grass. Are you concerned there is a vast gap between the reporting, and what has this date been doing for the past two months to alleviate that . Gov. Cuomo you cannot you cant alleviate. When they put possible or probable or unconfirmed cause of death. You are asking them a vague question and they are giving you a vague answer. They could argue it is not fraud because they did not know. You are asking them for cause of death, they are saying it is possible, probable. But if they misrepresented, then you have a criminal fraud case. John . Governor, you recently said that reopening the border would be done on a regional basis. So why is the School Closure why is at the School Closure decision made on a regional basis as well . Gov. Cuomo you can figure out how to socially distance in construction, or say you can figure out how to socially distance in a manufacturing facility with adults. And you can figure out social distancing, etcetera. To say we will figure out that plan and put it place in the next few weeks is virtually impossible. You cannot get just think of a school facility, right . Go back to this room. You have 30 kids in a classroom, but with social distancing you can only put 10 kids in a classroom. Ok, get another three classrooms with another three teachers. I cant. The cafeteria at lunch time, i put 200 kids in the cafeteria. Now you can only put 70 kids in the cafeteria. So have them eat in six shifts. Figure it out and get it done in a few weeks. And make sure you do not make a mistake, because we are talking about children, about them getting affected, either getting sick themselves or bringing it home. So the stakes are higher. You said you cannot get to a full stage two of the reopening unless you have the schools open. Does that mean we will not get to a full phase two in any area by the state by the start of the Academic Year . Gov. Cuomo during the Academic Year, you would need to get to a full phase two for the schools to be operational. You cannot say everybody go back to work, but the schools are closed. It would be very hard for part of the workforce to do that. But you are at the end of the school year anyway in a few weeks. Then you are in the summer months. And then the big question is going to be september, are you ready to reopen the schools in september . And if you dont, then you can argue, you are not going to be ready for a full business opening if you are not opening the schools in september. I think that is true. Let me make sure everybody asks a question. I have two questions. I hope youll answer both. There is a huge protest. There are two protest going on outside. I wanted to know from them what was going on. One is reopen new york state, which you already heard from. The other is citizen action new york, and they are asking you to cancel rent. I asked the organizer how it would be funded and she suggested that you tax billionaires. Is this idea feasible and what is your response to that group of protesters aligned d lined down washington . Gov. Cuomo you have protesters in front of this building on a continuing basis. You think that these are protesters . There are several dozen. You come when we are doing a controversial bill, we have hundreds of protesters filling the entire building. In fact, the building vibrates with the chants. That in some ways is great. That is democracy, people have an opinion. Last week, you asked about the protesters who wanted everything open. The other day, you asked about protesters who wanted everything closed. That is what you get, one day it is everything open, the other day it is everything closed. My point is i get there political opinion. I get the political spectrum. I hear them and i understand what people say, liberate new york, open everything up. I understand why people say close everything. You are going to kill my children. So i get the arguments. And what i said is this is not a political decision. Lets make a decision based on the facts. I get the people who say, nobody should have to pay rent. I get that argument. I get the landlords who say if nobody pays rent, i will walk away from my building and then it will be vacant and i will not pay any bills, because if they do not pay rent i am not paying bills. Then you will have collapse of buildings. What we are doing is no one can be evicted for nonpayment of rent between now and june, period. Period. If a person cannot pay their rent because of this situation, they cannot be evicted. That is the law until june. That will be in effect until june. And between now and june, we will see what happens. We will figure it out. We will figure out what we need to in june. I have talked to hospitals we are now two months into the outbreak, why didnt we require that sooner when we could have attracted more feasibly contractor more feasibly . Gov. Cuomo we have some of the information, but now this will be an extraordinary when i talked to the hospitals, they will say this is an extraordinary reporting requirement. You had Emergency Rooms that were overwhelmed, you had administrators that were overwhelmed, working 24 hours a day. To get this level of granular detail on people who were walking in the door, and get it to us on a nightly basis, this is going to be a significant Administrative Burden on them. Are the essential workers . There is no such thing as an essential worker before this. How do they commute . That is a question that has, i do not think, ever been asked of a patient before. If you are in essential worker, where do you work . These are not questions the Health Care System ever asks. But since it is down to 1000 new cases per day, i am going to say to the hospitals, i understand it is a burden but it is 1000 people statewide. It is only several hundred in downstate new york. I understand the burden. The volume is a little lower. This is a little granular. It is more detail than anything you have done, but it is important for us to get it now so we can come up with a more targeted plan. Ok, thank you very much. Thank you. [crosstalk] gov. Cuomo i will see you tomorrow. Thank you. The summer camp decisions will follow the regional decisions, whatever we do in that region we will apply to the summer. I will see y sunday night. Peace and conflict resolution to a wider audience. My country, 73 of the population is under the age of 30. And raised in war. So the mindset, thinking about war. So i was like how about these young people from south sudan Start Playing this video game. Because in the video game its the same thing happening in my country killing people and all this and they will people like this is how things are done but i was like how about creating a video game for peace and conflict resolution. West Virginia Governor gave an update. New guidance for the safer at home order he issued. And the states decreased revenue. Gov. Justice ello, everyone. This is friday, may 1. This is the briefing today. We have been a little late getting going. We are getting some additional slides that should give you more valuable information together. I guess, lets start off with news, think is respectful but at the same time, its dang, i hate this. I cant tell you how much i hate this. We have lost five more west virginians