New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Monday that a second coronavirus-related shutdown in the state is “possible” but not “inevitable.”
Cuomo told NBC’s “Today” that he’s “not there yet” when asked about preparations for another possible shutdown.
“I believe it’s possible. I don’t believe it’s inevitable,” Cuomo said. “We have to use the science and get more sophisticated, and that’s where we are in New York.”
Cuomo noted that New York is currently shutting down “tiny areas” of about one to two square miles to prevent a widespread breakout like the state experienced in the spring.
“If you can target that way and close down small areas, then it’s not inevitable that the spread gets so large that you would have to close down an entire city or a state,” he said.
The governor cautioned people to be “worried” about the fall, as health experts have warned about an expected rise in cases with the seasonal flu returning, people heading inside and schools opening.
But he touted New York’s coronavirus status as “very, very good,” with one of the lowest infection rates in the country, about 1 percent, and high numbers of testing. He pointed out the current surge of cases in Brooklyn and in Queens, which he said “is primarily a Hasidic Jewish community that doesn’t want to accept the social distancing rules.”
“We need the ability to focus on these small clusters now because if you don’t catch a cluster, then it becomes a contagion,” Cuomo said.
The New York governor is set to release a book titled “American Crisis: Leadership from the COVID-19 Pandemic” on Tuesday. Cuomo said the book is intended to reflect on the United States’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic while the country is at “halftime.”
“We had some success, but we also are making a lot of mistakes,” he said. “And when we go into the locker room as a nation and we talk about the first half, we better learn, because if we don’t learn the lessons, the second half is going to be worse, I can tell you that.”
New York became a major epicenter for the coronavirus in the spring. Throughout the entire pandemic, the state has confirmed 474,286 COVID-19 cases and 25,574 fatalities, according to data from the New York State Department of Health.