President Trump and Gov. Cuomo agree to work together to double COVID-19 tests in NY

President Donald Trump and Gov. Andrew Cuomo met in the oval office Tuesday with Gov. Cuomo calling it a "productive meeting."

News 12 Staff

Apr 22, 2020, 10:06 AM

Updated 1,626 days ago

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President Donald Trump and Gov. Andrew Cuomo met in the oval office Tuesday with Gov. Cuomo calling it a "productive meeting."
The two men agreed to work together to double up testing, which has been one of Gov. Cuomo’s top priorities.
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President Trump and the governor haven’t always met eye to eye, but during the first in person meeting since the crisis began it seems they’ve worked out some type of game plan.
New Yorkers can expect more testing. The federal government will be working with New York State to double the number of tests done per day.
“In the state of New York, we now do on average about 20,000 tests per day. Our goal, which is very aggressive and ambitious but set it high, and then try. Our goal is to double the 20,000 to get to 40,000 tests per day,” says Gov. Cuomo. “We'd need several weeks to ramp up to that, but it is a very aggressive goal.”
Aside from testing, Gov. Cuomo told the president the USNS Comfort, the Navy medical ship docked in Manhattan, is no longer needed and should be deployed to its next mission.
The governor also says they discussed the need for more funding for the states. Money that will help New York get back on track and help those who have been impacted the most.