Take The Comfort, Bring Coronavirus Tests, Cuomo Tells Trump

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo told President Donald Trump he could take back the U.S.N.S. Comfort then demanded he supply New York tens of thousands of novel coronavirus tests during a White House one-on-one Tuesday.

"We don't need the Comfort anymore, it did give us comfort, but we don't need it anymore," Cuomo said during a phone interview on MSNBC.

"The big issue was testing, as everyone knows, that's going to be the big task going forward."

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Trump assured Cuomo that he would be open to funding state governments in the next federal stimulus package and partnering with New York to double the state's testing capacity to 40,000 a day, the governor said.

Cuomo also told the president the 1,000-bed hospital ship docked in New York City was no longer needed.

Despite a recent social media spat between the two lawmakers, the conversation was civil and productive, according to Cuomo.

"The president seemed very open and understanding," Cuomo said. "We all need to work together on this."

Cuomo has spent weeks pushing Trump to take control of the national supply chain of coronavirus tests — which he would rely on to reopen New York's economy — while promising to hold the reigns on state-side policy.

"The state should determine where tests are taken," Cuomo argued. "But we need help from the federal government to make the supply chain work."

New York has 211 private labs that would need to increase their testing capacity ten times to meet the state's aggressive goal, Cuomo said.

Without data on how many New Yorkers have developed antibodies to the potentially fatal virus, it would be impossible to determine when residents could safely return to work.

"We have a long way to go," Cuomo said. "We need to rely on the data as we make these decisions."

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