As the United States surpassed 20,000 coronavirus deaths, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) sees some good news in the trends regarding the spread of the virus.
“I think you can say the worst is over,” Cuomo said during his press conference on Monday morning. “Because the worst here are people dying. That’s the worst. That worst doesn’t get any bad than this worst.”
He continued, “We can control the spread, and we can reduce the number of people who die, and our healthcare system can do phenomenal work and rise to the occasion and deal with this beast.”
“It has not overwhelmed the healthcare system. We have controlled the spread. And there is confidence to be taken in that,” Cuomo added.
Watch the video below:
.@NYGovCuomo: "Yes, I think you can say the worst is over because the worst here are people dying."
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 13, 2020
Full video here: https://t.co/HWIgKjBl1d pic.twitter.com/lrRRoxLiFC
Cuomo went on to say that people should “feel good” that healthcare workers were able to keep up with the surge in cases and not be overwhelmed.
He also said that he believes the state can begin to look at ways to reopen, “I believe the worst is over if we continue to be smart. And I believe we can now start on the path to normalcy. And we can have a plan where you start to see some businesses reopening.”
Cuomo’s comments on Monday come a day after he said he wants to reopen the state “as soon as possible,” as IJR has previously reported.
However, he has been very careful to emphasize that officials have to be “smart” about how restrictions on public life are lifted to ensure there is not a resurgence of cases.