WHY NY Governor Andrew Cuomo Believes THERE WILL BE A SECOND COVID-19 WAVE
Governor Cuomo on June 30: Good news is our house is doing very well. Bad news is the neighbors home is on fire. We need to be concerned.
Question: Do you turn on the gas stove if the neighborhood’s on fire?
Especially if you’ve naughty kids inside your home who can’t behave?
In a Nutshell: Governor Cuomo is convinced that New York will go through a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic not from within but from those entering through our borders. Those people congregating and carrying on in front of bars and restaurants would be the perfect breeding ground for the virus’ spread. Has he been addressing these problems of noncompliance? Yes, for weeks. How might an infected person enter through the border? Interstate commerce or those visiting other states through our roadways.
Update Found at the bottom of this posting.
Over the past week, the Governor’s gone on about New York’s expected second wave, yet not the sort we were might’ve been expecting.
“There will be a second wave, but not the second wave that we thought might happen. The second wave is not going to be a mutated virus,” said Mr. Cuomo. “The second wave is going to be a rebound of COVID from the other states that now got infected transmitting it back to New York, so New York will have been failed by the federal government once, in the virus coming to New York undetected from Europe, and then the governmental incompetence is going to hurt New York a second time when the virus was allowed to increase in other states and then come back to New York. It will have been a double barrel shotgun of federal incompetence.”
At the moment, there are now 22 states on New York’s travel advisory list. Anyone coming in to New York from any one of those locales are subject to mandatory quarantine. Why? Their health metrics are out of control with unchecked transmission rates and hospitalizations.
As of July 14, these states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin.
Through his four press briefings over the past week he’s been unwavering in his belief of a COVID-Rebound for NY – bringing up, yet again, the lack of social distancing compliance taking place at and around bars and restaurants in NYC and elsewhere. His disgust with this non-adherence goes back to the weeks leading up to the 4th of July weekend.
You’ll find links to additional related write-ups near the bottom of this page.
On Thursday, July 16, the Governor had the following to say during that day’s Tele-Press Conference:
“The State itself has looked at over 5,000 establishments in downstate New York and found many cases of a failure to comply. It’s wrong. It’s dangerous. It’s selfish. It’s unacceptable. It’s also illegal, so today beginning in New York City we’re going to enact a three strikes and you’re closed. Any establishment that receives three violations will be closed for business. Egregious violations can still result in an immediate loss of a liquor license but three violations and you’re closed.”
Social media is chock full of complaints about Mr. Cuomo’s decisions to keep the city from reaping the benefits which come with Phase 3 & Phase 4 status which includes the opening of malls, indoor dining, and indoor cultural institutions. All of which are necessary, to some extent, for the city’s economic recovery.
“He’s being too careful” / “He’s power hungry” / “He’s ruining our economy” / “Why all this if our health metrics are so good?” / “The Gyms! Open up the Gyms!”
Is the running theme of many postings.
What many don’t understand or simply aren’t acknowledging is how the great success we’ve had in containing the pandemic could come crashing down with folks entering in from other states.
He’s explained how the virus’ worsening spread across the country will eventually find its way into our state. In response, he’s mandated enforcement protocols to be carried out at the airports.
“… but the virus will still get through the border, the only question is to what percent. And that’s what we’re looking at – the inevitability of a second wave, the only question is how hard this hits,” said the Governor on Friday.
One might sit and wonder, where are these people coming from? Who’s going to drive across the country or up along the eastern coast to NY?
For one thing, there ARE folks with family in those other states on NY’s travel advisory. People who are accustomed to driving that sort of distance. Yours truly is big on driving and can go on a sightseeing ride for the full length of a day, getting out of my car only for a gas refill. The furthest away from New York I’ve traveled is to Connecticut close to our state’s border – but what of these other people?
“Remember, all it takes is one person” is the sort of sentiment echoed far and wide.
Yet, one might think that to be farfetched. How many folks are actually going for such long drives. Let’s have a look at an exchange the Governor had with Pat Kiernan, of NY1 News, on June 29:
Governor: “The other complication, Pat, is the viral spread in these other states is so high. I’m worried that we’re going to get infected by the other states the way we got infected by Europe in the first place.”
Pat Kiernan: “You see the numbers there, it’s frightening, and these are people who are coming back and forth.”
Governor: “That’s exactly right. That is exactly right and, you know, we don’t have border control. We have a quarantine for the most highly infected states. But we are a place of commerce, people come in and out of New York all the time.”
“Place of Commerce,” he said.
A light bulb should be going off with that remark.
Drive in near any direction from New York City and what do you see plenty of? Delivery Trucks. They’re all over and these are the sorts of vehicles that’ll travel clear across the nation. An updated in the form of a followup to Interstate Travel can be found at the bottom of this page.
According to the Governor, as seen in his statement above, “we don’t have border control”.
It’s a question that’s left unanswered.
Now, getting back to noncompliance in the Big Apple, the Mayor’s disagreed often with the Governor’s statements concerning folks’ non-adherence. Yet on Saturday, a CBS News article shows a video of wholesale non-compliance in one Queens borough neighborhood.
A search through Youtube found the following item:
It’s not too different from the one in mid-June which got the Governor all worked up:
Don’t make me come down there… https://t.co/OeVGMW7LEO
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 13, 2020
Upon examining all of Governor Cuomo’s concerns the method to his madness then becomes very clear.
In the end, if this all becomes a reality and our state does end up suffering through a second wave, will NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio be ready to accept the blame?
I attended a few of his briefings last week and was only able to ask a question once. If picked again, in the near future, then my question to him would revolve around our borders. What protocols might he suggest putting in place to safeguard against cross-border transmissions?
Update on July 20, 2020:
The Governor held a press briefing this morning at JFK Airport. I WAS able to ask him that which I referenced above. I’ll be going over the exchange under a separate posting by the end of this day.
To summarize, the Governor never answered my question about what he would recommend to the Federal Government or what he would do if he had the power to control our borders. Instead, he went on about the enforcement being carried out at airports. He also stated that the airports make up 90% of incoming travel. Does that null his previous mention of interstate commerce? None of it helps to explain his strong opinion that NY will in fact go through another COVID-19 Wave. Has his opinions on the matter changed over the past weeks? I’ll be exploring that in another posting.
Further Reading: