U.S. federal gov't made "terrible blunder" at beginning of COVID-19: NYS governor

2020-10-19 22:36:11 GMT2020-10-20 06:36:11(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

NEW YORK, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The federal government didn't live up to its obligation during the fight against COVID-19, for only one-third of the Americans have been tested in the past seven months as the pandemic raged on, said New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday.

"The federal government made a terrible blunder at the beginning of COVID-19. They were not ready, they were unprepared, and they didn't even try to get prepared. It was the federal abdication," the governor told his daily press conference.

"The United States of America has done 124 million tests. It has 328 million people. That's only about a third of the population in number of tests in seven months. You tested a third in seven months," said Cuomo.

In addition, the governor expressed his disappointment about upcoming vaccination campaign.

If only a third of Americans got tested within seven months, "how long does it take you to vaccinate 100 percent, and how does it happen?" asked Cuomo.

On Sunday, the National Governors Association (NGA) sent a list of questions to the Trump Administration seeking clarity on how to most effectively distribute and administer a COVID-19 vaccine.

The primary questions they asked include: Will there be funding allocated to states to assist with distribution of the vaccine and other vaccine efforts? How will the vaccine be allocated to states? What formula will be used? When can we expect clarification on which stakeholders will contract directly with the federal government?

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sept. 18 that the United States would produce enough coronavirus vaccine doses for "every American" by April 2021. Currently, at least four large-scale phase 3 clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine are being conducted in the United States.

The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University reported 220,020 coronavirus deaths and over 8.2 million confirmed cases in the United States as of Monday afternoon, both the worst among all the countries in the world. Enditem

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