, humankind must choose solidarity and cooperation over the pursuit of individual interests. the world must unite under the banner of mutual trust and inclusiveness in the face of deepening crisis. if the international community firmly commits to the greater cause of freedom for all, we will undoubtedly overcome the current crisis quickly and bolster our trump, vice president pence, defense secretary esper, and other officials are set to attend the memorial day wreath-laying ceremony at arlington national cemetery. the coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. new york governor andrew cuomo says that for the memorial day holiday, the state is

considering a maximum 50% capacity at beaches and that beachgoers should practice social distancing. he took questions on the state's approach to reopening. governor cuomo: good morning. it is a pleasure to see you all here today. governor cuomo: good morning. it is a pleasure to see you all here today. let's talk about where we are today. first, on the facts. total number of hospitalizations is down. that is good news. the rolling average of hospitalizations is down. that is good news. the intubation's are down. and the new cases are up a little bit on the rolling average, but all part of the decline. so that is all good news. the number of deaths ticked up,

which is terrible news, but the overall line is still good. the 109 families that lost loved ones are in our thoughts and prayers. what does the governor due on memorial day weekend? people ask me all the time you go to the beach. that is when a governor does. and he brings his friends. and i am here with my friends today from far-right, and the secretary the government. budget director for the great state of new york, and the doctor. we are at the beach. the beaches in new york state are open. rv parks are open tomorrow and we are a that.

we remind all new yorkers to be smart in what they are doing. we are following the science and the politics. this is not a political ideology question. this is a public health question. it is about stopping the disease and the spread of the disease. informing the people is what i have done from day one every day. that is what i will continue to do. we feel this is a case of first impression we have never been here before.

that is true. the country has been through this before. from the past so you don't make the same mistakes. when we went through this in the 1918 pandemic, when you do it and you see that the virus came back and came back with a fury, this is not about what you think. it is what we know these are facts. when you look at the 1918 pandemic in st. louis and then denver when they open too quickly. an article in the washington post, 24 states may have an uncontrolled growth of the virus.

they are talking about california and florida may still see a spike in the number of deaths. those are all facts. they reinforce the point that we have been making. follow the numbers and follow the science and we have done just that. that is why our curve is coming down when many places the curve is going up. remember what happened to us was no fault of our own. actually, it makes the point, because what happened to us was we didn't have the facts when this started. everybody said the facts with a virus was coming from china. those were not the facts. the virus left china and went to europe. nobody told us. people came from europe to new york and to new jersey into connecticut. 3 million european travelers

came. it was january, february, march until we did the european ban and they brought it to new york and that is why the number is so high. we did not have the facts. we were not informed. but once we got past that and we were in control, we have been smart and smart has worked. we just have to stay smart. even though it has been a long time and people are anxious, we have to stay smart. the mid hudson is still on track on the numbers to open tuesday. long island is on track to meet the numbers on wednesday. we have to get the number of deaths down on long island and get the tracers up, but we are doing that. we are preparing for long island to open. we are getting the transportation system ready. it is run by the mta and they are going to be cleaning and

disinfecting trains and buses every day. we never disinfected buses and trains before. we never thought we had to. but we get it now and they are doing it every day. they are going to add more cars into the trains so people can space out and socially distance when long island opens. i want people to remember that a mask is mandatory on public transportation. i think you are making a mistake, a grave mistake if you don't use a mask in your own personal life. we know that it works, we know that the first responders have a lower infection rate than the general population because they wore the masts. i know as governor if you are going to expose other people to your behavior in the public,

then you have to wear a mask when you can't socially since. -- distance. and that is true on public transportation. starting today, the sports leagues will be able to begin training camps. i believe sports can come back without having people in the stadium and in the arena, do it. work out the economics if you can. we want people to be able to watch sports, to the extent people are staying home. it gives people something to do and is a return to normalcy. we are working and encouraging all sorts to start training camps as soon as possible and we will work to make sure that happens. all veterinary practices will

begin on tuesday. that is a service that is necessary and has been necessary for a period of time. i want people to remember that there are people who have paid a very high price, everybody has paid a high price for what we have gone through. some people have hade an extraordinarily high price. some people literally do not have enough to eat. the demand on food banks has skyrocketed. it is true in all states and here on long island. we encourage people and philanthropies that want to make donations to make them of the purpose of food banks it gets very basic. do you have housing and do you have food? let's make sure no new yorker goes hungry. as we go forward, we have been talking about the light at the end of the tunnel and we are dealing with it today in the here and now but we also have

one eye on the future and when we finish getting through this, which we are, we have to start talking about building back better, not just building that, building back better. the same attitude we had here on long island after superstorm sandy. i said i just don't want to replace what was. we went through too much pain and learned too much just to replace what was. let's build back better, new power grade, new and more resilient homes and roads so that when mother nature comes back, and she will know, we are in a better position because we learn from superstorm sandy. let's do the same thing here. do we really think this is the last time we will have a public health emergency? does anyone believe this is the last time, like superstorm sandy, it was a once in 500 year

flood. it happened three times a year now. this can't be once in 500 years. there are new rules. i believe there will be another public health emergency, different virus, some other public health emergency. learn from this and we have eric smith, the former ceo and executive chair of google who is very good at seeing issues and seeing possibilities to chair a commission for us and look and ask how do we learn from this and prepare going forward. we have put together a commission that will work and -- work with him and represent all aspects of the state and the economy, but i want them to get to work and come up with ideas. let's make sure we are better for what we have gone through. start preparing for a new

chapter in this saga. we are writing history in new york. we are writing history in america. for a whole modern day governmental and societal response, chapter one we are dealing with the emergence, stabilizing the health crisis. we have just about completed chapter one. two.e starting chapter which is reopening after you have stabilized the health crisis. we are starting to write chapter two. chapter three, that we will be preparing for soon, is we will be rebuilding and re-creating

the economy. i don't believe the economy bounces back. i don't believe it is going to be enough, just to go back to where the economy was. too many small businesses have closed. you will see many of these corporations are going to use this as an opportunity to lay off workers and i believe that. many businesses will have gone through this period where fewer workers are at home and use more technology and they are going to decide that we don't need as many workers. that is going to happen. you will have people who decide i don't want to go back to work and i would rather stay home and do it from home. we are going to need to stimulate that economy and government has a role to play in that, it always has. how does government stimulate and lead the way to these new economic opportunities? how does that commission come up

with new ideas that we can jumpstart to grow the economy? that is what the next chapter is going to be about. it is going to be about government working with the private sector, and working with his nieces to jumpstart the , economy, to stimulate it and get some big projects going that get the business sector engaged and confident and believing once again, get people into a position where they will invest once again because they believe in the economy. building new airports, which makes this nation more competitive. that is what we are doing at laguardia and jfk. this nation hasn't built a new airport in 25 years. when are you going to start? now is the time to start. how do you improve the mass transit? how do you rebuild the roads and bridges? how about new technology for education. how about new telemedicine.

we learned not ever but he has to show up at the doctor's office. let's invest and build that new health care system. we talked about a new health care system that can do testing and tracing and has surge capacity and hospital beds. let's build that new public health system and let government get ahead of it and let government lead the way. new york state has led the way in so many difficult times in history. new york was the first. i am not just saying that as a new yorker. read the history books. read where fdr came up with his great ideas. he used new york as a laboratory when he was a governor and then he brought them nationwide. but we were the first. we started it and people look to

new york for guidance and example. and new york was bold and was creative. they talk about the new york energy, the new york mojo. yes, that is new york. we did things that other people didn't think could be done, and we did it over and over and over again. we are at jones beach today. jones beach is indescribably beautiful. it is also something else. it was a tremendous feat of ambition and vision, jones beach, built by robert moses. what is funny about jones beach when he started to build, there was no beach. people assume you have a beach because mother nature of each their. there was no beach. this was all built. this was all marsh. this is seven miles of fill.

they filled a seven mile stretch 14 feet high. it took so much fill that they dug the channel, a canal, and used that fill to build a beach. how ambitious. you want to build a beach seven miles long, 14 feet of fill, that is impossible. no, they did it in three years. it was a marvel, because they believed in themselves. you have smart governments, confident -- competent government. government did work for people here. it saved lives. so let's get that kind of ambition back. let's get that kind of optimism back.

we built new york. mother nature didn't build this. she gave us a beautiful harbor, but everything was built and we did it and we can do it again. that is what it means to be new york tough and smart and united and disciplined and loving. questions? >> a bar and grill reportedly was crowded with a lot of patrons on friday night. some video showing it. any thoughts? >> i don't know about them. i am sure it is a great establishment. >> the bar allowed patrons to come inside and pick up the food. that is what was conveyed to the suffolk county police.

we do want to take the opportunity to remind everyone that crowding of any kind is against what we are advising and everyone should be wearing masks. from what i understand the photo shows people not in masks. that is stupid, stupid for you and your surrounding patrons and stupid for the bar. i will take them for their word that that is what happened, but they are on notice. moving forward, they should be on notice and the enforcement is up to the locals. governor cuomo: that does not sound like curbside pickup. >> it looks like half the patrons were -- i am wondering as it gets warmer and warmer, are they will find there will be no place to park? gov. cuomo: the observation should be technically correct. there should be orange cones and half of the number of spots, because we said 50% capacity is

now in. that is to make sure we have social distancing on the beach. we can do social distancing on the beach because we are at 50% of max. we have not reached 50% of max. so no one has been turned away. as the weather gets warmer, i expect more people will come. the reopening of the economy is going to be across the board. we start gradually and slowly. we make sure we are all being smart so the virus infection rate stays down. then we continue to reopen. >> [indiscernible]

gov. cuomo: you could if you get that point, but if we remain smart, you can increase economic activity without necessarily increasing the viral spread. this is a perfect scenario. people start to come out, more people coming out, but they are all doing it smart and wearing ppe and staying away from each other and using hand sanitizer, and that infection rate doesn't go up, or it goes up a little bit. as long as you are controlling the virus infection rate, then keep continuing opening. and that is why i keep hammering smart part of this. if you are wearing the mask and you are doing the hand sanitizer, you could increase your activity and not infect anyone. and that is what we have been doing so far. but what does next week look like? next week is a function of what we do today.

that sounds too glib, but it is factually true. you tell me how people act today, i will tell you the infection rate three days from today. so you want to open faster, be smart. we will just calibrate it to the infection spread. what you are protecting against this but they are talking about for the other states, better infection -- the infection rate goes up, the number of deaths go up, you overwhelm the hospitals again. that is what we are protecting against. but if we stay smart, and we have been smart, you look at numbers compared to other states. there is a dramatic difference in what is going on, because we have been hammering the smart.

stay smart, watch the numbers, and i will tell you what happens next week when we see what people do today and if those numbers stay down, then just keep increasing the economic activity. [indiscernible] gov. cuomo: you get prioritized and you get to third-degree. you get prioritized because what we, all of us, want is the most likely people infected the fastest. so if you are showing symptoms, go to the front of the line.

if you know you are in contact with a covert positive person, -- covid positive person, go to the front of the line. because we are really worried about you and if you are infected, i don't want any delay. i want you to know right now so you can isolate and we can start contact tracing. third degree, yes. we want to know where you were, what makes you think you are infected, how old you are, because getting that data is very helpful to us. we are now focusing on where the cases are coming from. whether you live, what community, are you any central worker? any been working? yes or no. just to give us data. it is all private, but we want

to know where the infection is coming from so we can focus on those areas. >> [indiscernible] gov. cuomo: we have extra capacity and we have drive-ins, i just passed one. we can do 15,000 tests a day and we are only doing 5000 tests a day. it is not that we are at a capacity level, we have more capacity for the public than we are now using and that is where i keep encouraging people to come out. there is a prioritization. if i think you are positive or a likelihood, i want to get you tested by one cause p.m. so you are isolated at 120 and you don't infect anyone else. it is all about keeping that infection spread number down. let's enjoy memorial day weekend. thank you very much for taking the time. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by

watch c-span's unfiltered coverage with briefing from the white house, congress, and governors from across the country. join the conversation on our live program, washington journal. if you missed any of our live coverage, watch anytime on demand at c-span.org/coronavirus. >> this week, watch live coverage of the launch of spacex's commercial crew test flight, marking the first launch of american spacecraft since 2011. live on c-span. the countdown clock briefing with nasa administrator. wednesday, our live coverage of the spacex crew dragon launch c-span 2 as nasa

astronauts launch to the international space station. then, a post-launch briefing with a nasa administrator at 6:00 p.m.. thursday at 11:15 p.m. on c-span two, all day live coverage of the spacex crew dragon as it docs within the international space station. then the opening of the hatch between the vehicles and the event between the spacex crew dragon and the i.s. x -- the iss group. >> vice president mike pence spoke at the annual national space council meeting at nasa headquarters in washington, d.c.