Gov. Andrew Cuomo says some New York hospitals have started testing COVID-19 patients for the presence of a mutated form of the coronavirus discovered in the United Kingdom that has led to a shutdown in that country.
All three airlines that fly from the U.K. to New York have now agreed to test passengers for the virus before they board the planes.But Cuomo eased off on his call to halt those flights altogether after he said he heard Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s infectious disease expert, say that he thinks a travel ban is premature. Fauci, who spoke on the PBS Newshour, did say that he, like Cuomo, suspects the mutated form of the virus might already be present in the U.S.
Cuomo upped his request for more testing of airline passengers, saying those boarding planes from any country to New York should undergo a coronavirus test.
“The U.K. variant is in the U.K., yeah, but within days it gets on a plane, and it’s now global,” Cuomo said.
The governor said several hospitals in the state have begun the testing for the new strain of the virus, and so far 4,000 samples have shown no evidence of it.
Copyright 2020 WXXI News
