Governor Cuomo Hosts Daily Briefing at NYMC
The Center for Disaster Medicine at New York Medical College was the backdrop for New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s daily press briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic on May 7.
Expressing his enormous sense of gratitude for the courage shown by the health care workers at the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis, he said, “After telling the general public I need you to stay home and explaining just how dangerous this virus is—in the very next breath I told health care workers I need you to go to work,” he recalled.
During the press conference, the Governor announced that the State would extend the moratorium on COVID-related hardship for renters (referred to as the residential eviction ban) until August 20. Governor Cuomo further shared that New York State’s COVID-19 death rate—which was 231 for the last 24 hours period—is on its way down and is now below the national average. Speaking to the ongoing national debate regarding re-opening the economy, Governor Cuomo said this: “The question isn’t whether or not we open. We will re-open. The question is how.” he continued, “What we are doing right now is working. And when you are doing something that is working, you stay the course.”
According to Robert Amler, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice and vice president for government affairs at NYMC, “The Governor conducts some of these daily briefings in different locations around New York State, and we are so pleased that he came to New York Medical College’s Center for Disaster Medicine.” He continued, “Today the Governor’s remarks were about the broad virus containment effort statewide, and it is well known that this Center has been active in COVID-19 analysis, research, and dissemination of information, having trained thousands of first responders, law enforcement, medical, nursing, and other hospital personnel across the State.”
“We appreciate Governor Cuomo's leadership during the COVID-19 health crisis and his recognition of the role the students and faculty of New York Medical College are playing in clinical care, COVID-19 clinical and laboratory research and the public health response. We look to the future as we begin the process of re-opening more of our research laboratories and expand instruction for our students from online to in-person —while at the same time recognizing that personal and public safety must always come first,” said Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer at NYMC.
