The relationship between President Trump and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo spiraled into an exchange of criticism as ideological divides emerged and as the city was labeled the epicenter of America’s coronavirus outbreak.
Anyone passing through the city was urged on Tuesday to observe 14 days of self-quarantine as officials scrambled to prevent New York cases seeding new outbreaks around the country.
During a regular evening briefing by the White House coronavirus task force, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said: “It’s a very serious situation, and they have suffered terribly through no fault of their own, but what we are seeing now is that, understandably, people want to get out of New York.
“They’re going to Florida. They’re going to Long Island. They’re going to different places.”
He may have avoided apportioning blame, but that sentiment did not run to the two leaders who can do most to tackle the New York outbreak.
Trump and Cuomo, New Yorkers from opposite parties, had cut an unlikely team as they cooperated on a string of urgent measures to stem the spread of the disease. When Trump talked up the benefits of malaria treatments in tackling COVID-19, for example, it was New York that got the doses for a clinical trial.
But, on Tuesday, they spent the day taking potshots at each other.
During his regular daily briefing, Cuomo took issue with the president’s ambitious timeline for easing restrictions on public life.
“If you ask the American people to choose between public health and the economy, then it’s no contest. No American is going to say, ‘Accelerate the economy at the cost of human life,'” he said at a Manhattan convention center being fitted out as a 1,000-bed emergency center.
The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that the United States is in danger of becoming the center of the global crisis. “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the U.S. So, it does have that potential,” said Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman.
Which would put Cuomo’s state at the epicenter.
So far, 25,000 cases have been reported in New York, or about 7% of the world’s infections.
Cuomo said his forecast for required hospital beds had now risen from 110,000 to 140,000, far beyond the 53,000 available now. That peak is expected in 14 to 21 days, he said.
And he said he needed 30,000 ventilators but had only been sent 400 from the national stockpile before condemning the Trump administration for failing to activate the Defense Production Act to compel industries to produce more and instead relying on companies to volunteer their services.
“Volunteerism is nice. It is a beautiful thing. … That is not going to get us there, and I do not for the life of me understand the reluctance to use the Defense Production Act,” Cuomo said.
Trump, ever the counterpuncher, hit back during a virtual town hall meeting convened by Fox News in the White House Rose Garden.
“He had a chance to buy, in 2015, 16,000 ventilators at a very low price. He turned it down,” said Trump, appearing to read from a news clipping that claimed Cuomo had set up death panels and lotteries to select who would live and die, instead.
“I’m not blaming him or anything else. But he shouldn’t be talking about us. He’s supposed to be buying his own ventilators. We are going to help.”
Vice President Mike Pence said the administration was “working around the clock” to ensure New York got what it needed, including the ventilators used to support patients with COVID-19.
However, the issue of producing vital medical apparatuses and protective gear is developing into an ideological fault line between the administration, which is resisting using the act, and its Democratic critics.
“The Defense Production Act is in full force, but haven’t had to use it because no one has said no,” tweeted Trump in the morning. “Millions of masks coming as back up to states.”
But none of that is happening fast enough for his likely Democratic opponent in the November election. Former Vice President Joe Biden said in a CNN interview that Cuomo needs the ventilators immediately.
“He needs a great deal more. The whole country needs them. Let’s move now,” he said. “He says he’s a wartime president. Well, act like one.”
