NY Governor urges Trump to issue executive order on masks

NY1/Pool

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the federal government abandoned its responsibility in fighting the coronavirus. 

“It is time to wake up America. The White House has been in denial on coronavirus from the get-go and the federal response has just been wrong. That’s not a political statement. If you look at the facts, that’s exactly what it says," Cuomo said.

 Cuomo asked President Trump to do two things:

“They should start telling the people of this country the truth,” Cuomo said.

The governor also said reopening fast was not good for the economy and while the economy reopening is important, Cuomo noted, “When that virus spikes, the market goes down, not up.”

“This was not a smart policy to rush reopening. It did not help the economy. It’s the exact opposite.”

Cuomo said the federal government has only set up 41 testing sites across the country compared to 750 sites set up in in New York by others including local governments.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a large sculpture showing the curve of coronavirus cases in the state, warning that "we don't need to climb another mountain."

A marker at the peak of the mountain represented the 42 days that cases in New York increased before plateauing and the declining.

While coronavirus cases are steady in New York, they are increasing in many states across the country. At least 12 US states are pausing reopening plans because of the spikes in new cases.

"Doing this once in life is enough. We don't need to climb another mountain. one mountain was enough," Cuomo said.

World Health Organization

The coronavirus pandemic is far from coming to an end any time soon, according to World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"Although many countries have made some progress globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up. We're all in this together and we're all in this for the long haul," Tedros said. "We have already lost so much, but we can not lose hope."

Tedros also said that Tuesday marks six months since WHO first received reports of cases of pneumonia in China from an unknown cause — which would later be identified as caused by novel coronavirus infection.

 "The six-month anniversary of the outbreak coincides with reaching 10 million cases and 500,000 deaths," Tedros said.

"This is a moment for all of us to reflect on the progress we have made and the lessons we have learned, and to recommit ourselves to doing everything we can to save lives," Tedros said. "Six months ago, none of us could have imagined how our world -- and our lives -- would be thrown into turmoil by this new virus."

A view of Barclays Center is seen on June 1 in New York. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

MTV's Video Music Awards will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on August 30, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo just announced.

He did not elaborate on any guidelines for the event.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks du NY1/Pool

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo noted two complications that have appeared in New York City as it moves toward phase three of reopening next Monday that may cause a delay in allowing indoor dining.

According to Cuomo, these include:

Cuomo said that he and his team are speaking with business owners and are going through the data to decide whether indoor dining, which is allowed in phase three, will be allowed in the city.

Cuomo said a final decision will be made on Wednesday.

Eight people died from coronavirus across New York state yesterday — a dramatic decrease from the roughly 800 people who died daily during the height of the pandemic, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

At least 853 people remain hospitalized because of the virus — "lowest level" of hospitalizations "since this nightmare began," Cuomo said at an ongoing news conference.

He said numbers continue to improve in the state, and Western New York will soon be ready to enter phase four of reopening.

The St. James Theatre remains closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic on May 15 in New York. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

Broadway performances in New York City will be suspended through the rest of the year due to Covid-19, the Broadway league announced in a press release.

The league is offering refunds and exchanges for tickets purchased for all performances through Jan. 3, 2021, it said.

The league said returning productions are projected to resume performances over a series of rolling dates in early 2021.

Tickets for next winter and spring performances are expected to go on sale in the coming weeks, they said.

It continues to work with city and state officials as well as leaders in science, technology and medicine “to formulate the best plan to restart the industry.”

People eat at the Busy Bee Diner on May 24 in Ventura, California. Brent Stirton/Getty Images

The surge in Covid-19 cases in California continues and as state officials take measures to slow the spread of the virus, Ventura County’s public health officer Dr. Robert Levin said the state reopened too quickly.

“I think we did open too quickly in terms of this being purely a virus question. Part of what drove us to open at all and at the rate we did was concerns about getting our economy moving. And of course, one can easily make an argument that having a robust economy is a public health issue as well.”

The US is also witnessing more younger people contracting coronavirus during this surge in cases, and Levin stressed the importance of this information.

Levin also expressed concern about the growing number of cases despite California being early to issue a stay-at-home order at the onset of the pandemic to get it under control.

“One month ago, we were having 20 hospitalized patients due to Covid across our county pretty much on a daily basis. The most recent report has us in the high 60s. This is a dramatic thing, and I can't help but be very concerned about it.”

People walk through the concourse at the Berkshire Mall in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, on June 26. Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images

Earlier in this pandemic, scientists didn’t know how easily this new virus spreads between people without symptoms, nor did they know how long infectious particles could linger in the air. There was also a shortage of N95 respirators and face masks among health care workers who were quickly overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.

But since then, the CDC, the US Surgeon General and other doctors have changed their recommendations and are now urging the widespread use of face masks.

The CDC now says the public needs to “cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others.”

Scientists have made many recent discoveries about this new coronavirus, including:

In other words, it’s not just people who are sneezing and coughing who can spread coronavirus. It’s often people who look completely normal and don’t have a fever — and that could include you.

If 95% of Americans wore face masks in public, it would save more than 33,000 lives by October 1, according to projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

CNN has been answering your questions about coronavirus throughout the pandemic. You can read more answers —organized by topic and searchable by keyword — here.

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