Death benefits for the families of frontline workers who succumbed to COVID-19 will be provided by the state and local governments in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said, as he called on the federal government to do the same. 

"You worked when it was hard," Cuomo said during his daily coronavirus briefing, held at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. "You appeared for duty when it was troubling to do so.”

 

What You Need To Know


  • Cuomo says frontline workers' families should be eligible for death benefits.

  • He's urging the federal government to do the same.

  • The daily death toll has declined.

  • Cuomo warns lawmakers to not spending money in post-budget session.

 Hospitalizations continued to decline in New York as are new COVID-19 patients entering hospitals. The death toll from the last 24 hours stood at 96 people, the same time in three days the death toll has fallen below 100 people. 

More than 20,000 people in New York have died from the virus since the pandemic took hold in March. 

Cuomo's briefing on Memorial Day was largely to praise first responders. The benefits would apply primarily to medical staff and first responders, including police, fire and emergency medical personnel. 

"They showed up because I asked them to show up," Cuomo said. "They showed up because I required them to show up. There’s not a transit worker who conducted a train or a nurse who went to an emergency room who wasn’t scared."

 

 

 

The legislature is set to convene in remote session this week for the first time since passing the state budget on April 3. Lawmakers are expected to take up a package of COVID-related bills.

But the governor also warned lawmakers to not approved legislation that would come with a price tag, as the pandemic has sunk the state's finances and evaporated its tax revenue. Cuomo is pressing the federal government for direct aid to bolster the state's cash situation.

"We don't have any money," Cuomo said.

He once again warned that without federal aid in the next stimulus legislation, New York could face spending cuts to schools and hospitals of up to 20 percent.

The state has borrowed on the short term and delayed pay raises for state workers as finaces became tighter in April. 

"Any additional money we spend increases the cuts to school aid, local government and hospitals," Cuomo said. "It's a zero-sum game."