NY Coronavirus: 778 More Deaths; Cuomo Says He Won't Fight Trump

NEW YORK, NY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday said he won't fight President Donald Trump, who tweeted Democratic governors are "mutineers" by resisting his desire to restart the economy. Meanwhile, the New York coronavirus death toll climbed to 10,834 Monday after 778 more people died.

"That number is up and that number, to me, is the most painful number," Cuomo said.

At his daily briefing, Cuomo once again cautioned against reopening businesses too early, pointing to a spike in infections seen in other countries that he believed ended strict social distancing orders too soon.

Seven northeastern states — New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Delaware — agreed to create a council to coordinate a reopening plan that, at the very least, won't contradict each other, Cuomo said. And the idea that states, rather than the federal government, have the final say over when — and how — to restart the economy, isn't ambiguous, the governor said. While the two have to have a relationship, Cuomo stressed the United States does not have a "king" who can unilaterally order people to go back to the office.

“This reopening, we could lose all the progress we made in one week if we do it wrong," Cuomo said.

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Cuomo said there's no time or resources available to play partisan politics, and flatly stated he wouldn't engage in a fight with the president, who tweeted Tuesday that Cuomo had been calling daily "begging for everything, most of which should have been the state's responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, ect."

"I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want independence! That won't happen!" Trump tweeted.

Trump added: "Tell the Democrat Governors that 'Mutiny On The Bounty' was one of my all time favorite movies. A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy!"

Cuomo stressed that while Trump does not have the authority to lift state stay-at-home orders, the federal government can play a large role in scaling testing for the virus nationwide. That would help prevent states and cities, already grappling with depleted revenues, from bidding up the price against each other for essential resources.

Statistics continued to show that severe social distancing measures have led the state to plateau in the number of coronavirus infections.

Hospitalizations fell slightly to 18,597, and the net change in total hospitalizations fell by 126. The net change in the three-day average of hospitalizations fell to 14 after peaking at more than 1,200 at the beginning of the month.

The number of new people entering hospitals every day with the COVID-19 disease fell slightly to 1,600, Cuomo said, while the net change in intubations dropped to minus 14 after peaking at about 350 in early April.