New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Friday countered President Donald Trump’s statement that he doesn’t “believe” the Empire State needs tens of thousands of ventilators for hospital workers to treat COVID-19 patients.
On Thursday night, Trump claimed that the number of ventilators Cuomo had requested was excessive.
“I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “You go into major hospitals sometimes and they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'”
“Everybody is entitled to their own opinion,” Cuomo said on Friday during a press conference from Manhattan’s Javits Center, which is being turned into a hospital. “But I don’t operate here on opinion. I operate on facts and on data and on numbers and on projections.”
The governor pointed to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health experts, which have projected that New York will need approximately 140,000 hospital beds and 40,000 ventilators when the coronavirus outbreak in the state reaches its apex.
“Those are numbers, Zach,” Cuomo told a reporter. “Not ‘I feel,’ ‘I think,’ ‘I believe’ ‘I want to believe.’”
“Make the decisions based on the data and the science,” he continued. “And we’re following the data and the science, and that’s what the data and the science says.”
Cuomo also stated that there are now over 44,000 COVID-19 cases in New York, which has become the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S.
Near the end of the press conference, the governor concluded his speech one of the most New York ways possible: “I say, my friends, that we go out there today and we kick coronavirus’ ass.”
Watch Cuomo below:
Gov. Cuomo responds to Trump saying NY doesn't need extra ventilators: "I operate on facts and on data and on numbers and on projections. " pic.twitter.com/JT3KvnplCX
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) March 27, 2020
Biden needs to get off his butt, and start being more aggressive. He needs to be the point man, calling out each of these crazy ass statements by Trump. Hold news conferences in his yard, or rent a large space he can use for them. Do it daily.
Trump is staying all kinds of crazy shit that has no relationship to reality, and the media will not point it out. Someone with a platform needs to.
The clear, direct message that: “TRUMP is wrong, his statements there are enough ventilators and his failure to act is causing people to LOSE THEIR LIVES. People are dying because Trump is a meligant narcissist, who refuses to address the consequences of his failures over the last two months, failures which have allowed Covid-19 to turn into a pandemic in the USA.”
P.s. the people who are advising Biden to stay presidential and not take on the mantle of the democratic leader - since Bernie is still out there - are wrong. Calling out you David Alexelrod - you and your ilk are wrong. This is NOT 2008, and Trump is NOT Bush, who stepped aside and let the adults in the room (Bernanke and Paulson) address the issue.
I couldn’t agree more. What’s he doing every day that he can’t hold a press briefing?
Ignorance is not permanent unless the host wishes it to be so. Speaking science and facts to the willfully ignorant is one of the most masochistic pursuits one can endure. IMPOTUS is both willfully ignorant and stooopid.
The governor of New York can speak facts and science all he wants, but don’t try to win over the famous ignoramus. You must convince IMPOTUS’ sycophants that it is in their best interest to sway IMPOTUS to do the smart thing, because a “stable jenius” always knows better. The sycophants must convince IMPOTUS that it is in his best interest to comply. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how American democracy works currently.
Playing it safe? Is he thinking “Better to condemn after the fact - then take a stand and maybe - look premature?”
I’m not advocating for that stance - I’m suggesting that might be the logic?
Hannity then offered a reprise of his heroic efforts to counter other fake news:
GRODIN: Would you consent to be
waterboardedinjected with the Corona virus? We canwaterboard youdeny you access to a ventilator?HANNITY: Sure.