Video, Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Gives Update on COVID-19 Pandemic

VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.

A rush transcript of today's remarks is available below:

On dealing with the COVID crisis, over the past 101 days, we're now at a different point. We're at the point of reopening the economy and moving forward on that. And that is an entirely different situation than everything we've done up until now. Everything we have done up until now has been fighting the virus, how do you contain it? How do you isolate it? How do you quarantine people? How do you do the medical research to find a vaccine or a treatment? Reopening says, how do you now restart the economy and control the virus at the same time? And all of this has never been done before. There is no blueprint, there's no book written on it. There is no expert on the globe who can say, "Yes, I know how this should be done." And I speak to all of them. The situations where you have seen reopenings, countries around the world, they're very mixed results. So, this really is going down a path that no one has traveled successfully, but if any place can travel it successfully, it's going to be in the State of New York.

Every region in the state is now reopening. New York City entered what we call phase one this past Monday. Westchester, Rockland, Mid-Hudson Valley started phase two yesterday and Long Island entered phase two today as the number of COVID cases came down. We did the reopening. We measured the reopening to a set of metrics we established from day one. As we now go forward in this new phase, there is a new focus and again, the focus is watching the data, watching the metrics, watching the numbers, we're not doing this by political ideology. We're not doing this by gut instinct. We're not doing this by feel. We're not doing this by political pressure. You're dealing with a virus. The virus does not know from Democrats or Republicans or liberals or conservatives. The virus is a virus and it spreads wherever it can. It is a pure opportunist. But you can measure this. It is public health. It is science. Measure it and follow the numbers.

What numbers are important now? The numbers to watch now are the daily testing results. New York tests more than any state in the United States per capita. It tests more than any country on the globe per capita. We do about 50,000 tests every day. Think about that. 50,000 tests every day. And you know exactly where you're doing the test and you know the result of those tests, so you have that data. You can monitor what is happening on a daily basis. Well, do exactly that. Watch those daily numbers and if you're going to get in trouble you'll see it in the numbers. You'll see them starting to increase that is exactly what we're doing. And we present them to every local official, we put them on the website. Every citizen should want to know what's happening their community and their region. Look at the number today, look at the number yesterday. Look at the number the day before. See if there's any movement; see if the movement is up, see if the movement is down and see if we have to worry. If there's a cautionary tale or see if the reopening is proceeding without increasing the viral spread. That's where we are and that will be the most informed reopening of any state in the country. Just have the discipline to follow the numbers.

These numbers, for example, on Long Island. Today, Nassau is .8, really yesterday. Monday was .1, Sunday was 1.1. There'll be slight deviations up and down. These are not the largest statistical examples when you break them down, but you'll be able to see movement and you'll know when there's an issue. All of us have a role to play. What determines the virus spread? We do. We do. Not government. Not state government, not city government, not the federal government. This has always been about what society does. It's been a social issue. Can people change their behavior? Can they learn? Can they learn quickly? Can they actually wear masks? Can they actually socially distance? Can they actually use hand sanitizer? Can they stay away from large gatherings? If they can, the virus spread will be contained. If they can't, you'll see an increase in the viral spread.

My role has been to inform people. To educate people. To motivate people about what can be done, what should be done and what are the consequences. It has worked brilliantly up until now. Now with reopening we have to actually double down on our diligence. Business owners, employers that are reopening like we see here today, provide the right equipment. Have employees socially distanced. Store owners have responsibility, employees themselves have responsibility. Each one of us as an individual has responsibility and the local governments have a responsibility to make sure their Department of Health is out and making sure things are working well.

Well, we're reopening we're out the woods, everything is fine. No. Reopening is actually much harder than closing. Closing was abrupt and disruptive, but it was simple. Everything is closed. Reopening is more delicate and more nuanced. If you look at the states and the countries that have been reopening, more of them have gotten into trouble than not. As we sit here today, states are getting into trouble. Newspapers will tell you more than a dozen states are now seeing increases. Texas, 36 percent increase since Memorial Day. Reopen, reopen, reopen. Be careful, be careful, be careful. California, the cases are still going up. Florida, the cases are going up. Look at those curves around the nation. Why? Because if you just reopen, if you just increase activity, the virus spread is going to up compared to the virus spread when you were closed.