CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Interview

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Joining us now, the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo.

Governor, thank you so much for joining us.

CUOMO: Good to be with you. BLITZER: All right, so, earlier today, the New York City mayor, Bill

de Blasio, said there needs to be an honest conversation about whether a shelter-in-place order is necessary. And he said he's been speaking to you about that.

Did you talk with him today? What's the latest on that front?

CUOMO: Yes, I did.

I spoke to the mayor of New York City. I have been speaking to mayors all across the state. I have been speaking to governors all across the nation. Everyone is saying the same basic thing, Wolf.

We are seeing the numbers go up. That is problematic. We have to try to flatten the curve, because we don't have a hospital system that can manage this rate of input, right?

How do you bring the curve down? Density reduction at this point, you know, testing, but, really, it's about density reduction.

Today, in New York, we said only 50 percent of a company's work force can go to work; 50 percent has to stay home. We have also had other mandatory provisions.

So we are significantly curtailing the density, the work force. It's affecting businesses, but it's hopefully saving lives.

BLITZER: Did the mayor, Mayor de Blasio, ask you to implement what's called this shelter-in-place order?

CUOMO: What we talked about -- we talked about the options that we have, right?

You can close businesses. You can restrict travel, et cetera. I am not in favor of quarantining the city. I'm not in favor of imprisoning people. But, obviously, everybody wants the same thing, reduce the density, because density is where this virus communicates and transfers.

And keep people as -- quote, unquote -- "isolated" as possible.

BLITZER: Because the number of cases, especially in New York state, are rising dramatically. And it's the same story. It's the same story in neighboring states as well, I think 532 cases so far just today in New York state.

Will you get to the point, Governor, where a situation warrants what Washington state, for example, is now doing, a shelter-in-place order?

CUOMO: Yes, look, shelter in place is a little deceptive. It sounds like you are imprisoned in your home.

But that's not actually what it is. It says, you can go to the doctor, you can go to the store, you can go outside for exercise. So, I am not going to imprison anywhere. Individual mobility and liberty is the cornerstone of who we are. And there are ways to do this without that. The real question, Wolf,

is how -- the close-down of businesses. That's what is driving the density, right? And we went to 50 percent of the work force today. If that does not slow the spread of the virus, we will go higher on that, because that's what's driving density, people coming out of their homes to go to work.

Obviously, the flip side is, the more you close down businesses, the worse on the economy and on individual incomes.

BLITZER: Yes, but priority number one is the health of the people in New York, indeed, the health of people all over.

CUOMO: Yes. Yes.

BLITZER: And let me just correct the numbers, 532 cases in New York City, some 3,000 new cases in New York state.

And, as you know, Governor, the projection is, those numbers could double every day or two.

CUOMO: Yes. Well, you're right.

We're about 2,300 cases in New York state. The numbers change all day long, Wolf, because we're doing so much testing. Also, part of this is, people have to understand, because we're doing so much testing, we're finding the positives.

[18:10:00]

We read these numbers to suggest, well, now there are 2,300 cases of coronavirus in New York state. If you actually knew, there would be tens of thousands of cases in New York state. If you actually knew, my guess is there have been tens of thousands of cases, and people resolved and never knew they had coronavirus.

So it's not that the spike is saying the number of cases is going up by that number. It says, the testing is revealing more cases.

I think it is much more widespread than any of these numbers suggest.

BLITZER: And let me get your reaction to this tweet that the president just posted a few moments ago. I will put it up on the screen.

"I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat" what he calls "the Chinese virus, should we need to invoke it in a worst-case scenario in the future. Hopefully, there will be no need. But we are all in this together."

What's your reaction when you saw that? A couple of points. He calls the coronavirus the Chinese virus, and also saying he hasn't decided to use it yet, but he might use it down the road.

CUOMO: Well, look what this -- where this all comes down is, we're going to overwhelm our health care system with seniors, people who have compromised immune systems, who then get the virus, who need intensive care units, who need ventilators.

We don't have the capacity in the hospitals. We don't have the number of ventilators. You can't find enough ventilators. Everything I have heard from the federal government is, they don't have enough ventilators.

Wolf, I have people in China right now trying to buy ventilators. So it's going to overwhelm the capacity of the health care system. That's what we're all focused on. I have spoken to the president. I spoke to him this morning. We have had our differences in the past.

I said, forget that. Democrat, Republican, we're all Americans. Let's work together. We're working in partnership with the federal government now. I met with the Army Corps of Engineers this afternoon to actually convert hotels, dorm rooms, et cetera, to hospital beds.

But if you do not have the ventilators, we have a major problem, because, even if you have the beds, if you don't have the ventilator, you don't have the care people need.

And that is -- that is the focus. How do we get those ventilators? I have been speaking to manufacturers. How do we make them faster? How do we redesign them to make them faster?

But it sounds -- it sounds almost silly that this entire situation, what is the obstacle, how many ventilators we can get.

BLITZER: And, very quickly, because he's getting some criticism for calling the coronavirus the Chinese virus.

Do you have a problem with that?

CUOMO: Well, I think it has certain connotations.

And, look, I'm in New York. I am very sensitive to any stereotypes, any cultural references, any racial references. We have had some instances here in New York where Chinese people were attacked, being blamed for the virus.

So, obviously, I don't think that's helpful.

BLITZER: Earlier today, the president announced that a U.S. Navy hospital ship is going to deploy off the coast of New York City. Another ship will deploy out on the West Coast to treat people, not with coronavirus, but to make available beds at hospitals in New York and elsewhere, so that -- so that patients without coronavirus can go to these Navy ships.

What do you make of that?

CUOMO: Look, I think it's helpful.

The U.S. Navy ship Comfort is coming up. It's supposed to be here about mid-April. Just as you said, it could allow us to take people out of a hospital and put them on that ship. For some reason, it doesn't do people with a coronavirus, but it could backfill for a hospital.

But, again, Wolf, it's going to come down to the point of whether we have beds, yes, but whether we have the ventilator with those beds. This is going to be a respiratory illness. It's going to be someone with emphysema, someone who's battling cancer, and now has pneumonia.

They need those ventilators. So, even if we get the beds, if we have a bed without a ventilator, we're not going to be able to help these people.

BLITZER: You think moving these hospital ships off the coast of New York and out on the West Coast is a good first step in deploying the U.S. military to deal with this crisis?

CUOMO: Well, look, I have been calling on the president specifically to deploy to deploy the military.

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I said that this is going to overwhelm the states, it's going to overwhelm the health care system. The states don't have a capacity to build. I don't have a work force to do that. I can't retrofit buildings to be hospitals.

So, this was always going to come down to the federal government taking the -- taking the lead, every country that has done this Wolf, China, South Korea, Italy, it's been a national effort, right?

So I think the president gets it. He's -- when I speak to him on the telephone, he sounds like he gets it. His public comments have changed in tone.

I can tell you that -- had a conversation with the secretary of defense. I had the Army Corps of Engineers here today. So, they are mobilizing. And I think it's a good thing. And I want to encourage it.

And I told the president, look, we have had many, many differences. I don't think there's been a governor in the country who has had more differences with President Trump than myself. And I have been vocal about it, and he's been vocal about it. And that's OK.

But we have to work together now. This is literally about saving Americans -- American lives. And it has nothing to do with politics. And as much as the federal government can do, the better.

I was HUD secretary, as you remember, under President Clinton. I know how powerful the federal government can be when mobilized. And we need the greatest federal mobilization we have ever seen, because the president's right. This is a war.

And that's how we're taking it in New York. I am pulling out all the stops. We are doing everything we can. And I hope the federal government does the exact same thing.

BLITZER: Yes, you're right. So many lives are on the line right now. You have spoken about your order for most New York businesses,

Governor, to cut he number of people they have working in their offices or facilities by, what, 50 percent.

What sort of reaction have you been getting to that? Are the businesses out there complying?

CUOMO: Interestingly, Wolf, I have taken all sorts of dramatic actions, closing schools, gyms, restaurants, quarantining close to 10,000 people, and now saying to businesses, you have to cut the work force by 50 percent.

Things like this have never been done. I have not been legally challenged once on any of these things. I reached out to the business community. I'm talking to everyone.

But I think they get it. I think everybody gets it in this case. And they understand what we're talking about and what we're dealing with. So it's -- it doesn't make people happy, right? They see now the economic crisis that we are creating today, literally. And that's looming down the road.

But they get, one crisis at a time. We're in the middle of a health crisis. Let's deal with this. So, the businesses weren't happy, but they are cooperative. And kudos to them, I will tell you the truth.

BLITZER: Yes.

Well, Governor Cuomo, thanks for everything you're doing. These steps clearly are designed, and I'm sure they will succeed, in saving the lives of a lot of people out there. This is a real crisis we're all facing. Thanks so much for joining us.

CUOMO: Thanks, Wolf.

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