On CNN Monday, during a debate with his brother Chris, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) warned that the coronavirus outbreak is going to get much worse in his state before it gets better — and outlined some of the steps he is taking to try to minimize the suffering and death.
"You'll have different curves in different places around the country because the virus moves faster in some areas," said Cuomo. "It moves very fast in New York because we're a very dense area, we're very intense, we're on top of one another, so the virus moves fast. We are still on our way up the mountain of the curve. We haven't hit the curve."
"One of the things we're doing now, I brought all the hospitals across the state together. The first time ever," continued Cuomo. "I said, look, we're no longer New York City hospitals, Long Island hospitals, public hospitals, private hospitals, upstate hospitals. We're one hospital system and we're going to operate that way and we're going to share equipment, share staff, share resources. All the fiefdoms are broken down. We're going to make that entire health care system work."
"We're still on our way up the mountain," Cuomo repeated. "The apex is anywhere from six days to 21 days away, depending on who you listen to. The apex can be one and a half times the capacity of the hospital system or three times the capacity of the hospital system, depending on which projection you reach. I want to prepare for that apex, because this virus has been ahead of us every step of the day, Christopher. We have never gotten ahead of this virus. And you never win fighting the last battle. And we have to get ahead of it. And the next encounter where we meet the enemy is on the top of the mountain at that apex, and that's what we have to be ready for."
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