Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump, Cuomo Meet In Person To Talk Testing After Weeks Of Quarreling With And Praising Each Other
The New York Times: Trump And Cuomo Put Aside Disputes During White House Meeting
President Trump and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, two New Yorkers who have alternately praised and quarreled with each other during the coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged their mutual home state, met in person on Tuesday to try to resolve differences over testing and financial relief. After weeks of talking by telephone and through the news media, Mr. Cuomo traveled to Washington to sit down with the president at the White House and press for more federal assistance to expand testing for the virus and to help financially devastated state and local governments. (Baker and McKinley, 4/21)
The Associated Press: Trump Says He'll Help New York's Cuomo Boost Virus Testing
Setting aside their differences for at least an afternoon, President Donald Trump and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed in an Oval Office meeting to work to double coronavirus testing in the hard-hit state over the next few weeks. “We will work together to help them secure additional tests,” Trump said after Tuesday’s meeting. “And we hope that this model will work with the other states as well.” (Lemire, Villeneuve and Miller, 4/22)
NPR: N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo Says President Trump Promised Help With Coronavirus Testing
"The federal government will work on the supply of tests and reagents from the national manufacturers," Cuomo said. State officials will work at the same time to expand field testing stations and lab capacity. Cuomo says New York will focus mostly on diagnostic tests to identify people contagious with the coronavirus, but will also conduct antibody tests to find those who have recovered from COVID-19. (Mann, 4/21)
The Wall Street Journal: Trump And Cuomo, Coronavirus Partners And Rivals, Meet At White House
After initially touting the work the federal government was doing to ensure more widespread access to testing, Mr. Trump has more recently said that testing is the responsibility of the states and that the administration can only play a supporting role. In an interview on MSNBC after the meeting concluded, Mr. Cuomo said it had been productive. He said he requested a meeting because he wanted to get the testing issue “ironed out.” New York has been the hardest-hit state in the country, with more than 256,000 cases—nearly a third of the cases nationwide. (Ballhaus and Vielkind, 4/21)
The Wall Street Journal: New York To Ease Coronavirus Rules By Region To Reopen State Economy
Businesses in different parts of New York state will reopen on separate schedules, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday, as a growing number of upstate elected officials and employers made the case for a regional approach to easing restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The Democratic governor said officials in 10 existing economic development zones around the state would monitor local data and come up with a plan on exactly which stores and activities can reopen and when. (Vielkind, 4/21)
The Hill: USNS Comfort To Return To Virginia After Trump, Cuomo Agree It's No Longer Needed In NY
A Naval hospital ship that was dispatched to New York City to assist with a surge in coronavirus patients will return to Virginia soon so it can be routed elsewhere, President Trump said Tuesday. Trump met with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Tuesday afternoon at the White House, where the two discussed testing and funding for states. Trump said he also asked Cuomo about reallocating the USNS Comfort to another area of need. "I’ve asked Andrew if we could bring the Comfort back to its base in Virginia so that we could have it for other locations, and he said we would be able to do that," Trump said at a press briefing. (Samuels, 4/21)
The Wall Street Journal: New York City Plans To Stockpile Supplies For Future Pandemics
New York City will create a strategic reserve of medical supplies and equipment to guard against future novel coronavirus outbreaks and other crises, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. As part of the initiative, companies based in the city that can manufacture such goods will be supported. At a press conference, the mayor highlighted a type of ventilator developed during the current pandemic, the creation of which was spearheaded in part by Newlab, a Brooklyn-based technology hub that promotes entrepreneurship with 150-plus member companies. (Passy, 4/21)
ProPublica: NYC Mayor And Health Officials Misled Public About Plans To Move COVID-19 Patients Into Nursing Home, Advocates Say
New York City public health officials are moving patients suffering from COVID-19 into beds within a nursing home on Roosevelt Island that cares for hundreds of residents with a wide range of severe medical conditions, including dementia and other age-related ailments, paralysis, traumatic brain injury and profound developmental disabilities. (Thompson, 4/21)
CNN: NYC Launches Team To Combat Coronavirus Discrimination
With a spike in anti-Asian discrimination related to the coronavirus pandemic, New York City has formed a team to respond to the incidents. The New York City Commission on Human Rights announced Sunday that the coronavirus response team would handle reports of harassment and discrimination related to the outbreak, and that the team is made up of attorneys and members of the agency's law enforcement and community relations departments. (Holombe and Moghe, 4/22)
The New York Times: The Mortuary Science Professor Who Came ‘Out Of Nowhere’ To Help N.Y.C.
David Penepent walked into the back chapel of a funeral home in Queens on Thursday and surveyed a scene unthinkable before the coronavirus epidemic. Thirty people had been laid out in the chilled room, the bodies held in boxes made of cardboard and wood with “handle with extreme care” printed on the sides in bold, green letters. One by one, Mr. Penepent, an associate professor of mortuary science, and two of his students wheeled the bodies out on church trucks, first lining them up in the hallway, then bringing them to two vans parked out front. With the help of the home’s staff, they gently laid the boxes in the back of one of the vehicles, the first step in a long journey to a crematory outside the state. (Petri, 4/22)
ABC News: Lawsuit Filed Against WHO Over Its Handling Of Coronavirus Outbreak
Three men in Westchester, New York, are suing the World Health Organization contending it mishandled its response to the novel pandemic and engaged in a cover-up with China. Richard Kling and Steve Rotker of New Rochelle and Gennaro Purchia of Scarsdale, filed the suit in White Plains federal court Monday and claimed they suffered "injury, damage and loss" because of the outbreak and want the WHO to pay "incalculable" damages. Steven Blau, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, argued WHO didn't do enough to ensure the Chinese government was transparent of its COVID-19 safeguards. (Katersky and Pereira, 4/21)
