Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on MSNBC with Katy Tur

Earlier today, Governor Andrew Cuomo was a guest on MSNBC with Katy Tur to discuss the spread of the novel Coronavirus in New York and the State's comprehensive response.

AUDIO of the Governor's interview is available here.

Katy Tury: Joining me now from Albany, Governor Andrew Cuomo. Give us an update on the current status of New York.

Governor Cuomo: Thanks, Katy. Well, we're basically where every other state is right now. We're doing everything we can to reduce the spread. It is inevitable as you suggested that the spread is going to continue. We understand that. Do everything you can to reduce the spread. That's what we're doing. It's a little more complicated in a place like New York where you have that density. And then at the same time, make sure people are getting the right information and they're not overreacting. A situation like this, Katy, you have the underlying issue, which is here is the Coronavirus. You then have the public response to it, and the fear and the anxiety and the hysteria that compounds the problem. I don't believe the facts in this situation merit the level of anxiety that we're seeing. So we try to balance both.

Katy Tury: Define hysteria in your terms.

Governor Cuomo: Well, you know, people are very, very anxious. There's a lot of fear. This virus is not as dangerous as many of the viruses we've seen before, right? H1N1 was complicated. Ebola was a frightening virus.

Katy Tury: I know but is it like buying too much toilet paper, wearing masks around? I mean people are going to CVS and getting all of the hand sanitizer they can possibly get. Do you think they're worried about getting on the subway right now? Is that hysterical at this moment or are those fears warranted?

Governor Cuomo: Well, I think the anxiety is unduly high. If you look at the numbers, and we experience and we have the numbers, Johns Hopkins has been tracing the 111,000 Coronavirus cases from China. So we know the mortality rate and we know who is affected. It doesn't merit this kind of anxiety. It's not great. Certainly, we don't want to lose anyone. But it doesn't merit the hysteria. I think part of it is they're getting conflicting messages, mixed messages, and when people get anxious, it's not a rational, intelligent response. And we need everybody to work with us. But at the same time, we're doing what we need to do to reduce the spread: testing, testing, testing, testing. I'm pushing for more testing capacity because you want to find those people who are positive, you want to investigate down that line, isolate as many positive people as you can, so you reduce the spread. Why do you want to reduce the spread? Because you want to protect the vulnerable population from this disease which are senior citizens, people with compromised immune systems and people with an underlying illness. Those are the people really at risk.

Katy Tur: Are you prioritizing health care workers at senior citizens facilities, health care workers or any workers at places that hold the more vulnerable population?

Governor Cuomo: Yes. My fear, as Governor, are the senior citizen congregate facilities, nursing homes, senior citizen living environments, etcetera. That's my personal fear as Governor. As an individual, my family, I'm worried about my mother, who is an elderly person. Don't tell her I said that. She doesn't act that way. She doesn't believe she is. But that's my concern personally because that is the vulnerable population and with the nursing homes we put out new protocols, we have a cluster in Westchester which is a very high density cluster, and we said in those nursing homes no visitors, no people from the outside, because that's really the site of the vulnerable population.

Katy Tur: What about schools? Are you considering closing them? What will it take to close them?

Governor Cuomo: We close them on a case-by-case basis. You have the entire state, which is a microcosm of the country. You have higher numbers in certain areas, lower in others. If the numbers are low, God bless. If the numbers are high, take action. As I mention the before where we have a cluster in Westchester that has more cases than New York City. So how do you handle that hotbed, that hot spot, as they call it? Closing schools, closing gatherings, etcetera, extraordinary efforts where you have higher density of cases.

Katy Tur: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Governor, thanks so much for coming on and lending us your time. We appreciate it.

Governor Cuomo: Thanks.