Cuomo urges Trump to give states money for COVID-19 vaccine effort
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Cuomo holds up samples of empty packaging for the COVID-19 vaccine during a news conference in the Red Room at the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. Credit: AP/Mike Groll
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo urged President Donald Trump on Saturday to press for federal relief to families, states and localities, asserting that without such aid, Trump's legacy will be that he allowed the national economy to crumble while impeding the ability of states to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine.
Cuomo, in a two-page letter to the president, said that without state and local funding, the vaccine distribution process would be delayed.
"You will be held accountable for that delay, which will lead to more deaths and make the federal vaccine program a debacle," Cuomo wrote.
Asserting that Trump controls the Republican Party and can push forward the issue, Cuomo said Republicans didn't want to provide relief for state and local governments because the states that need help were largely Democratic states.
"This is just dumb — with the COVID numbers exploding, Republican states will also need help," Cuomo wrote. "If New York, California, Michigan, Illinois and other Democratic states stumble financially, it will hurt the national economy, and you will be to blame."
Cuomo also announced on Saturday that he signed an executive order to provide additional support for two of the groups hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic — vulnerable homeowners and the restaurant industry.
Local governments can now continue to provide property tax exemptions for low-income senior citizens and people with disabilities who own property through 2021. The localities can do this by lifting an in-person renewal requirement.
Also, Cuomo provided a three-month extension to the deadline for restaurants in orange zones to turn over sales taxes to the state. Restaurants in these areas were required to suspend indoor dining temporarily. Extending the sales tax deadline for payment of taxes — from Dec. 21 to March — will ease tax burdens for restaurants and bars in communities where COVID-19 metrics necessitated additional restrictions, he said.
Nurse practitioner Deborah Beauplan administers a COVID-19 swab test at a drive-thru testing site set up for Suffolk County employees and their families at Smith Point Park in Shirley on Saturday. Credit: Newsday / John Paraskevas
Meanwhile, Suffolk County has unveiled two new COVID-19 testing programs for county employees and their family members, with the goal of identifying any asymptomatic cases that could be unknowingly spreading the virus, officials said.
The first program, known as safeCircle, will test county employees once a week, with the test results coming back within 24 hours, officials said. The program will begin countywide on Monday.
The testing program has the ability to sample all 10,000 current county employees as well as county government retirees, officials said.
"Safety in the workplace is a top priority, and this first-of-its-kind surveillance testing program provides our employees who are on the front lines every day with the peace of mind they need to continue their critical work helping our residents through this crisis," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.
The testing program is set to run through June 15 with the option to extend an additional six months to Dec. 15. The cost of the program will not exceed $2 million, officials said.
The second program, which will take place twice weekly, is a rapid testing program for county employees and their immediate family members. This program, which began Saturday, is being conducted via drive-through rapid testing sites.
The first testing site is at Smith Point County Park in Shirley and will be open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The second site will be open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will first be at the county Department of Social Services' Mary Gordon Building, at 3085 Veterans Memorial Highway in Ronkonkoma. The site is not permanent, and will rotate with other sites that will be announced later, officials said.
Elsewhere, Long Island and the state continued to see troubling numbers of new cases and deaths, according to state figures released Saturday.
Long Island's infection rate stood at 6.19% Friday, up from 5.97% on Wednesday, according to state figures.
Nassau County had 487 hospitalized residents in the county hospital system — a level not seen since the end of May, County Executive Laura Curran said.
"While gradually increasing, Nassau’s test positivity rate is still among the lowest out of any county in the nation, as 5.1% tested positive yesterday," Curran said.
Nassau had 763 new cases Friday for a total of 75,421. The county accounted for four of the state's 127 deaths related to COVID-19, according to state figures.
Suffolk County had 942 new cases for a total of 80,989. Ten people died of COVID-19-related illness. The infection rate stood at 6.3%, according to county figures.
A total of 515 people were hospitalized, a decrease of five in 24 hours, the county said. There were 49 new admissions.
A total of 80 patients were in the ICU, a decrease of one, and 45 patients were intubated, county figures showed.
New York City recorded 21,853 cases of coronavirus — 16,827 confirmed and 5,026 additional ones that are suspected — over the past seven days, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted Saturday that on the most recent available day of test results there were 2,700 new cases, with a seven-day infection average of 6.22%.
"This weekend we need to double down on what works: practice social distancing, avoid large gatherings, and wear your masks," he tweeted.
Overall, New York State had 9,919 new positive test results, from a total of 191,476, resulting in an infection rate of 5.18%. An additional 737 people with the virus were hospitalized in the state, for a total of 6,208.
"With the vaccine now in hand, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but how fast we get there all depends on our actions," Cuomo said. "If we stay tough and be smart by socially distancing and wearing masks, we can avoid the holiday surge the experts are predicting and finally win this war."
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Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
