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Coronavirus Updates: Trump's Chief Of Staff Says Virus Can't Be Controlled, Which Cuomo Calls "Fundamentally Wrong"

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Sydney Pereira

Published Oct 25, 2020

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Governor Andrew Cuomo at a Manhattan press briefing on October 5th, 2020.

 

Lev Radin/Pacific Press/Shutterstock

By

Sydney Pereira

Published Oct 25, 2020

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This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Sunday, October 25th, 2020. Previous daily updates can be found here, and up-to-date statistics are here.

New York City is in Phase 4 of reopening now, which includes zoos, botanical gardens, museums, and gyms. Certain parts of Brooklyn and Queens are under a zoned shutdown. A look at preparing for the spread of coronavirus is here, and if you have lingering questions about the virus, here is our regularly updated coronavirus FAQ. Here are some local and state hotlines for more information: NYC: 311; NY State Hotline: 888-364-3065; NJ State Hotline: 800-222-1222.

Here's the latest:

1:10 p.m.: Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was "fundamentally wrong on the facts" regarding whether or not the coronavirus can be "controlled."

"He said we can't control the virus," Cuomo said during a press call from Albany on Sunday. "That was a very telling statement that he said. Because it basically admitted and encapsulated the way they’ve handled COVID from the start."

"He is fundamentally wrong on the facts," Cuomo said, pointing to months of efforts in New York State to "flatten the curve" and lower the infection rate, which transformed the state from the epicenter of coronavirus in America to one of the states with the fewest number of infections. "When you go from the highest infection rate in the country to one of the lowest, it means you controlled the virus."

"You didn’t eliminate the virus. But you control the virus," Cuomo said. "Flattening the curve is controlling the virus."

The governor made the remarks in response to Meadows's comments to CNN's Jake Tapper that the virus could not be controlled, in response to questioning about how the Trump administration has handled the crisis, as well as questions about Vice President Mike Pence's decision to keep campaigning despite his chief of staff testing positive for the virus.

"We're not going to control the pandemic," Meadows asserted on CNN's State of the Union. "We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigations."

"Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu," Meadows said when asked why the Trump administration can't control the spread of COVID-19, which is much deadlier than the flu -- something the president himself acknowledged during an interview in February 2020.

Meadows said Pence would wear a mask and socially distance from others—except when he takes the podium to speak to crowds.

"[W]hen he goes up to speak, he will take the mask and put it back on," Meadows said. He emphasized the focus should be on finding vaccines and therapeutics to keep people from dying, rather than preventing the spread of coronavirus in the first place.

Meadows's focus on vaccines and treatments doesn't help COVID survivors from the untold long term health consequences. The virus is now rising among rural parts of the country, where access to hospitals is more limited.

NY's positivity rate is 1.35%, the governor announced Sunday. Not including micro-clusters, the positivity rate is 1.06% statewide.

The micro-cluster zones—in Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland County, and Orange County—the positivity rate was 3.18%. Restrictions have been implemented in those zones to lower coronavirus cases, and positivity rates have declined in all four counties in the past week, Cuomo said.

Twelve people died from coronavirus statewide on Saturday.

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COVID-19

covid-19 updates

coronavirus

Sydney Pereira

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