The governor of New York State underwent a live television test for the novel coronavirus on Sunday and called on more of his constituents to follow his example.
“You don’t have to be a tough New Yorker to take this test,” Democrat Andrew Cuomo said at his daily pandemic press conference
“You have to be intelligent, united and disciplined,” he continued, while a doctor in protective gear asked him to close his eyes while he inserted a kind of cotton swab in his nose.
Since the start of the crisis, the governor has undergone several tests, but this was the first time he had performed exercise in front of cameras.
“If I’m not here tomorrow, that will mean I’m positive,” Cuomo added, regretting that too few people are currently getting tested.
New York State has paid a heavy price for the pandemic with more than 350,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 22,000 dead, out of a total of nearly 1.5 million cases and nearly 90,000 deaths nationwide, but reflux has been palpable for several days.
Before starting the deconfinement of the population, however, the authorities wanted to increase screening capacities, in order to identify patients more quickly, isolate them and avoid a new wave of contamination.
Today, 40,000 tests take place every day in New York State, which has 700 testing sites, Cuomo said. “Our new problem is that we have more sites and testing capacity than we are using,” he said.
He encouraged all people with symptoms or who have been in contact with sick people to get tested.
“It’s quick, easy, it doesn’t hurt, if you have the time, do it,” he then hammered on Twitter.
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