Cuomo: New Yorkers ‘Should Not Be Surprised’ by First Case of Coronavirus

As more cases of the coronavirus are confirmed across the United States, government and healthcare officials are urging the public against overreacting to the outbreak.

On Sunday, officials in New York confirmed the first case of the coronavirus in the state — a woman in her thirties who was infected with the virus during a trip to Iran. But, in an interview on CBS’ “This Morning,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) said residents of the state “should not be surprised” by the news.

“New Yorkers should not be surprised. We’ve been talking about this for days. I said it’s not a question of if but when. You see the number of cases around the globe. New York is the gateway to the world. So that’s not shocking. And we’ve been preparing for it, and we’ve been truly diligent on this issue.”

Watch the interview below:

He continued to call the case a “unique case” because the person infected with the virus is a healthcare worker, who was returning from Iran, where the virus has spread rapidly. He also noted that she took steps to contain the virus such as isolating herself.

Additionally, Cuomo said that officials in the state plan to “scale up very, very quickly” testing for coronavirus but also warned people against overreacting.

“We want to have a healthy diligence about this issue, but we don’t want an unnecessary anxiety, and we don’t want people overreacting,” Cuomo said.

He continued to say that the Ebola outbreak in 2014 was “much more frightening” than the coronavirus and said “the fear” around the virus is “outpacing reason at this point.”

Cuomo’s comments come as the first two deaths in the U.S. attributed to the coronavirus were reported over the weekend, and the number of confirmed cases from 65 to 89.

As the new cases were reported, the Trump administration has said the risk of coronavirus to the public is low at this point in the U.S.