Cuomo: New Yorkers 'don't have the right' to be reckless

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that New Yorkers “don’t have the right” to be reckless when it comes to social distancing.

Video Transcript

ANDREW CUOMO: The weather is turning. People have been locked up. We've been talking about cabin fever. Now, it's a nice day.

I'm going to get out. I'm going to go take a walk. Now is not the time to do that. And, frankly, there has been a laxness on social distancing especially over this past weekend that is just wholly unacceptable.

Look, people are dying. People in the healthcare system are exposing themselves every day to tremendous risk walking into those emergency rooms. And then, they have to go home to their family and wonder if they caught the virus and they're bringing it home to their family.

If you don't-- if I can't convince you to show discipline for yourself, then show discipline for other people. If you get infected, you infect someone else. You go to an emergency room, you put a burden on all sorts of other people, who you don't know and who, frankly, you don't have the right to burden with your irresponsibility.

And people, especially in New York City, the level of activity is up-- partially the weather made it a nice day. I understand people have been locked up for a long time, but now is not the time to be lax. And it is a mistake.

We all have a responsibility. We all have a role in this. We said that from day one. And we have to respect the role that we play, because the role that we play is a societal obligation, that's how I see it.

I want local governments to enforce the social distancing rules. The local governments are charged with enforcement. I want them to enforce them. And I want to be, frankly, more aggressive on the enforcement, because all the anecdotal evidence is people are violating it at a higher rate than before.

So we're going to increase the potential maximum fine from $500 to $1,000. But it's not really about the fine. Nobody wants the money. We want the compliance. We are serious.

And, again, if it's not about your life, you don't have the right to risk someone else's life. And you don't have the right, frankly, to take a healthcare staff and people who are literally putting their lives on the line and be cavalier or reckless with them. You just don't have the right.