Cuomo urges Mike Pence to let New York handle coronavirus testing

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday he is pushing Vice President Mike Pence to allow New York to perform its own coronavirus testing.
“The CDC has to do all the tests in Washington, how can they handle that volume? I told the vice president … ‘Look … we can do that test, we have the sophistication,’ ” Cuomo said.
The governor, speaking on Long Island Radio, said he talked with the White House’s point man on coronavirus Thursday and told him “this is not going to be a Health and Human Services agency function.
“People are coming into the airport at JFK, they’re coming from a place that may have the virus. You now have more countries that have the virus.”
“How do you test that volume? Which is an issue right now,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo said he wants permission from the feds to perform testing at the Wadsworth Center, the state Department of Health’s research lab in Albany. Right now the state only has the power to identify cases and refer them to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing.
The governor said he also plans to request an extra $40 million in state funds to go toward DOH coronavirus preparations.
“I want to make sure we have what we need and we have it now before you have a world scrambling to buy proper masks and gloves, etc. I want to make sure we can hire the staff now,” Cuomo added.

New York has one possible case — in New York City — in which tests are still pending. Another 27 people suspected of possibly having the virus were tested, but the results came back negative.
https://nypost.com/2020/02/28/cuomo-urges-mike-pence-to-let-new-york-handle-coronavirus-testing/