Young And Coronavirus-Immune Could Jumpstart NY's Economy: Cuomo

NEW YORK CITY — It could be up to the young and novel coronavirus-immune to restart New York City's economy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

Cuomo's campaign to slow COVID-19's spread — which include the "PAUSE" ordering non-essential workers home until further notice — may be coupled with an economic plan to reintroduce less vulnerable New Yorkers back into the workforce, the governor said.

"You can't stop the economy forever," said Cuomo. "We also have to start to plan the pivot back to economic functionality."

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Cuomo's financial advisors will explore the economic strategy put forth by Dr. David L. Katz, founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, that calls for isolating only those most vulnerable to COVID-19.

In a New York Times op-ed published Friday, Katz argued the "herd immunity" approach — relying on those with robust immune systems to act as "dead ends" for the virus — would provide protection to those more vulnerable while lessening the financial cost of a complete economic halt.

"I am deeply concerned that the social, economic and public health consequences of this near total meltdown of normal life ... [will be] possibly graver than the direct toll of the virus itself." Katz wrote.

Instead of spreading thin a dwindling health care and testing supplies, Katz suggested using research to better determine who was likely to survive contact with COVID-19 and send them back into the workforce.

"This focus on a much smaller portion of the population would allow most of society to return to life as usual and perhaps prevent vast segments of the economy from collapsing," Katz opined.

"A pivot right now from trying to protect all people to focusing on the most vulnerable remains entirely plausible."

The "herd immunity" strategy relies on the ability to identify those who have self-resolved from COVID-19, which is why Cuomo requested and received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to test means of finding coronavirus antibodies in human plasma.

"If you knew that, you would know who is now immune to the virus and who you could send back to work," Cuomo explained, adding the move might better protect those at greater risk.

"If you isolate all people you may be exposing the more vulnerable people."

The FDA also approved the New York State Department of Health's request to begin testing vulnerable COVID-19 patients this week with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin treatments, Cuomo announced.

Researchers in France who treated a small number of people with the two drugs recently found the combination cured 100 percent of their patients within six days, the Wall Street Journal report.

"It's only a trial, for people in serious condition," said Cuomo. "We think it shows promise."

Cuomo's financial advisors Steven M. Cohen, an executive vice president at MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, and Bill Mulrow, a Blackstone senior advisor, will work on the state's economic exit strategy, he said.

"I’m very proud of the measures we’ve taken," the governor said. "But I’m also very aware that it’s unsustainable to run this state with the economy slowed down."

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