GOVERNOR’S BRIEFING, MONDAY, 4/13

6 NE Governors

Unite On Getting

Us Back To Work

ALBANY – Recognizing that their states have one integrated regional economy, Governor Cuomo and five other Northeast governors today announced a multi-state council “to restore the economy and get people back to work.”

Cuomo was joined for the announcement by New Jersey’s Phil Murphy, Connecticut’s Ned Lamont, Pennsylvania’s Tom Wolf, Delaware’s John Carney and Rhode Island’s Gina Raimondo.

“Everyone is very anxious to get out of the house, get back to work, get the economy moving,” said Cuomo. “Everyone agrees with that. What the art form is going to be here is doing that smartly and doing that productively and doing that in a coordinated way.”

The idea is to build “on the states’ ongoing regional approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to an announcement from Cuomo’s office.

The coordinating group  – one health expert, one economic development expert and the respective Chief of Staff from each state – will work together to develop a “fully integrated regional framework to gradually lift the states’ stay at home orders while minimizing the risk of increased spread of the virus.”

The council will use testing, contact tracing, treatment and social distancing to achieve its goal, and will rely on the best available scientific, statistical, social and economic information to manage and evaluate those tools.