WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2020) The New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo urged US President Donald Trump on Monday to stop being a coronavirus "coconspirator" and to acknowledge the severity of the crisis.
During a press briefing Cuomo addressed Trump's recent claims that 99 percent of coronavirus cases are harmless and a growing number infections are merely a result of expanded testing.
"Mr. President, don't be a coconspirator of COVID. Do one simple thing. Acknowledge to the American people that COVID exists, it's a major problem. It's going to continue until we admit it and each of us stands up to do our part," he said. "If he doesn't acknowledge it than he is facilitating the virus, he is enabling the virus."
Cuomo called on Trump to send that signal by wearing a mask in public, something that the president has been avoiding since the beginning of the outbreak.
"Wear the mask. I have been asking him to do it for weeks," Cuomo said. "Not knowing doesn't mean you don't have a problem. And in this case if you don't admit it and you don't confront it it's only going to increase."
He also lamented a "recklessly" swift abandoning of economic and social restrictions by many states that are experiencing now a spike of cases.
"Look at the states that reopened recklessly and are now closing again. Who did that help? It actually set us back," Cuomo said.
The New York State, once the worst-hit locality in the world, has managed to suppress the outbreak and is now wary of new cases being potentially imported from other US regions.
