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Stories and information in our region on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cuomo Backs Off, A Little, On Federal Testing Request

N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Darren McGee
/
Office of N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo delivers his daily press briefing on COVID-19 at the Capitol in Albany on Monday.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has backed away from his call for federal help on COVID-19 testing. Previously he had been asking President Trump for help on funding and getting supplies. Now he’s only asking for help on supplies.

Cuomo says he can coordinate the state’s 300 testing labs, but that he can’t get all the supplies the labs need because they all come from the same place: China. For this he says the federal government needs to step in. Assuming the supplies come, New York is then faced with another problem: tracing.

“For every test you can do, you then need a contact tracer to come in and trace those contacts from that person. I’m saying we want to get up to the hundreds of thousands of tests.”

Cuomo acknowledged that hiring tracers will cost a lot of money, but didn’t indicate where the money will come from. Already, Cuomo said that unless more federal aid comes in he will have to cut funding by 20% to schools, hospitals and local governments.

Read the latest on WSHU’s coronavirus coverage here.

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Charles is senior reporter focusing on special projects. He has won numerous awards including an IRE award, three SPJ Public Service Awards, and a National Murrow. He was also a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and Third Coast Director’s Choice Award.
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