Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his aides are still scrambling to create new hospital beds and procure adequate medical equipment as the state begins its full day of a work shutdown, except for essential services.
But the governor said he’s also assigning a team to try to figure out how and when to restart the economy in the coming weeks.
Cuomo said the effort, known as NY Forward, will look at whether, for instance, it’s safe to allow those who have already had the virus and recovered to go back to work.
“You can’t stop the economy forever,” Cuomo said. “You turned off the engine quickly. How do you now restart?”
The governor said he has absolutely “no second thoughts” about ordering a complete shutdown of businesses this week, and imposing social distancing requirements everywhere else. But he said long term, it’s “unsustainable.”
Cuomo continues to say that he’d like to test more members of the public for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies to find out who has already had the virus without knowing it.