XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics, alt.politics.liberalism
XPost: alt.politics.trump
From: bksherman@latimes.com

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on the Trump
administration Friday to invoke the Defense Production Act to
drastically ramp up production of testing that Cuomo says is
integral to jumpstarting New York’s economy.

"We have 9 million people we want to get back to work,” Cuomo
said during his daily briefing at the Capitol. “You're going to
need government intervention to make that happen. And the
federal government is in the best position to do that.”

The state Department of Health has begun making hundreds of
antibody tests — which can be used to detect people who had been
infected with the virus but recovered and built up immunity. It
will be producing up to 2,000 per day in the next two weeks. By
comparison, New York is testing more than 25,000 people a day
now for the coronavirus.

But Cuomo said that’s “a drop in the bucket” relative to what
would be needed to get millions of people back to work in any
meaningful capacity, particularly if the neighboring states of
New Jersey and Connecticut are factored in.

“Even with our high capacity and high performance on testing,
it's still not enough,” Cuomo said. “It's not enough if you want
to reopen on a meaningful scale and reopen quickly. So the
testing front is going to be a challenge for us.”

Cuomo has said that widespread testing is crucial for society to
be able to return to a sense of normalcy while still minimizing
the potential of a “second wave” of coronavirus cases. There
have been more than 170,500 cases in New York, according to its
most recent figures, far more than any other state in the
country.

The Democratic governor said that the DPA should also be used to
scale up availability of so-called rapid testing, which provides
coronavirus results in a matter of minutes, rather than days
using the current testing kits.

Cuomo said New York will be forming a partnership with its tri-
state counterparts to help facilitate testing and bring the
economically vital New York City metro area back online. The
regional approach has been integral to Cuomo's concept of how to
get the state's economy back up and running.

“If you are willing to step in and use the federal powers, New
York state and New Jersey and Connecticut will partner with the
federal government and let's get the testing up to scale
quickly, so we can start to build that bridge to reopening the
economy," he said.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday he has spoken
“conceptually” with Cuomo about the idea of a consortium, but
had not specifically discussed New York’s antibody test with him.

“We have had directional discussions about needs to coordinate
as we get back on our feet,” Murphy said during his press
briefing on Friday. “Antibodies [testing is] part of that in the
sense we need to make sure we have the right health care
infrastructure at our disposal, not just in New Jersey but in
our region.”

The Trump administration has been hesitant to fully embrace the
sweeping authority afforded under the Korean War-era law, though
it has increased its use in recent weeks to spur private
companies to produce more ventilators and other vital medical
supplies. Cuomo had previously railed against President Donald
Trump's reluctance to use the DPA for ventilators.

Cuomo has no clue what is going on in his own state.

https://www.politico.com/states/new-
york/albany/story/2020/04/10/cuomo-calls-on-trump-to-invoke-dpa-
for-antibody-tests-1274804

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