Michael Bloomberg To Lead NY Coronavirus Test-Trace Program

NEW YORK CITY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Michael Bloomberg will lead the charge on the state's novel coronavirus test-and-trace policies hours after Mayor Bill de Blasio floated his own city-specific plan.

The former New New York mayor will coordinate the $10 million testing/tracing program in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey through Johns Hopkins University, Cuomo said Wednesday.

"How do we do it? I don't know," Cuomo said. "Michael Bloomberg will decide."

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Bloomberg's team will develop an online curriculum to hire and train disease tracers, provide upwards of $10 million in funding and conduct background checks, said Cuomo's aide Melissa DeRosa.

President Donald Trump has also committed to doubling New York's testing capacity to 40,000 per day, Cuomo said.

Hours earlier, de Blasio said New York City would develop its own tracing program — that could see tens of thousands of citizens put into isolation — but admitted the plan relied on a testing capacity the city did not have.

"If we don't get the testing, then none of the other pieces come together," de Blasio said Wednesday. "We're going to keep looking under every stone."

Cuomo argued a statewide initiative was necessary because COVID-19 does not obey city limits or state bounds.

"There is no tracing that can work in one jurisdiction," Cuomo said. "How's New York [City] gonna trace me if I'm in Westchester?"

New York State's test-and-trace plan will launch in a matter of weeks and expand as it launches, Cuomo said.

The New York governor admitted it would be impossible to trace every positive case but said the goal was to collect data to inform future policies to reopen the economy.

"How do you educate yourself on reopening? Well you need data," Cuomo said. "Where does data come from? Well it comes from testing."

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