New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, after ordering a containment zone in New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City, said Wednesday it will be up to states to curtail the spread of coronavirus, and questioned why it has taken so long for the government to start testing Americans for the disease.
"When they do the retrospective on this one, they are going to say, why did it take the United States so long to bring up the testing capacity," Cuomo told NBC "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie. "We knew this was happening in November and December. We watched China. China did something like 200,000 tests per day. South Korea did about 15,000 tests per day. The United States has only done about 5,000 tests to date."
Other countries have gotten ahead of the virus, he added, by doing a "lot of testing" and then identifying and isolating people who test positive.
Meanwhile, the phrase "containment zone" sounds "more dramatic than it is," said Cuomo, who ordered the National Guard into the community on Tuesday.
"We have about 108 cases in New Rochelle," he said. "Just to put it in perspective, we have 36 cases in New York City. New York City is 100 times the size of New Rochelle, okay? So New Rochelle is the hottest spot, if you will, in the country, the most dense cluster."
There is no limitation on movement in New Rochelle, but large gatherings have been prohibited, said Cuomo.
He also said he believes the federal government is starting to leave more response up to the states and asked that New York state be left to do what it can do while other states take their own paths.
"We're going to ramp up as quickly as possible now that the federal government is giving us some leeway," Cuomo said.