Gov. Andrew Cuomo channels Winston Churchill as he warns New York is at the ‘end of the beginning’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo invoked a famous quote from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he warned of the dangers of relaxing social distancing guidelines as the state’s deaths reaches a ‘horrific rate’. 

Cuomo used the famous line as he briefed the state on Saturday afternoon, urging New Yorkers to remember ‘this is not the end’ despite the death rate appearing to stabilize in recent days.  

‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning,’ he quoted. 

Deaths in New York reached 8,627 and 181,022 total cases on Saturday.  

Cuomo pointed out the the rate of hospitalizations and ICU admissions have fallen, despite New York being the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak

The famous quote came from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Gov. Cuomo also shared the quote from Winston Churchill on Twitter on Friday 

WINSTON CHURCHILL ‘THE END OF THE BEGINNING’ SPEECH

The British Prime Minister made the speech during the Second World War

It came after a string of Allied victories in Egypt and the Middle East 

He spoke at the Mansion House at the Lord Mayor of London’s Luncheon on November 10, 1942

It was in response to victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein

He saw it as the beginning of the end the Allied Forces’ Western Desert Campaign 

 ‘This is the beginning phase we’re all trying to figure out, but it’s the end of that phase,’ he explained during Saturday’s briefing.

The governor revealed that Churchill is a hero of his at that the former prime minister’s granddaughter Edwina Sandys, an artist, had sent him a portrait. 

‘It’s a great Churchill quote,’ Cuomo said, ‘so precise in how he uses language’. 

Cuomo also shared the quote again on his Twitter account. 

Churchill first used the line during a speech at the Mansion House at the Lord Mayor of London’s Luncheon on November 10, 1942, in response to the Second Battle of El Alamein. 

The Second World War battle was seen as the beginning of the end the Allied Forces’ Western Desert Campaign as the Axis threat in Egypt and around the Suez Canal and Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields was eliminated. 

In his speech, Churchill dubbed it the ‘The Battle of Egypt’. 

The full line read: ‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Henceforth Hitler’s Nazis will meet equally well armed, and perhaps better armed troops. 

‘Hence forth they will have to face in many theatres of war that superiority in the air which they have so often used without mercy against other, of which they boasted all round the world, and which they intended to use as an instrument for convincing all other peoples that all resistance to them was hopeless.’

The former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill used the line during a speech his made in November during the Second World War after a string of Allied victories against the Nazis

Deaths in New York, the epicenter of the country’s outbreak, have stabilized in recent  days with 738 reported Friday. 

Yet Cuomo urged residents to continue with social distancing guidelines as officials work to plan for the next stage. 

‘Everyone wants to get out of the house, and I know they want to get out of the house tomorrow, and they want me to re-open the economy in two weeks and we “beat the beast”, he said. 

‘The worst thing that can happen is that we make a misstep and we let our emotions get ahead of logic and facts, and we go through this all over again. 

‘Reopening is public health question and an economic question, and I’m unwilling to divorce the two,’ he added. 

‘You can’t ask the people of this country to choose between lives lost and dollars gained, nobody is going to make that quid pro quo.’ 

Cuomo added that the number of deaths in New York are ‘stabilizing, but at a horrific rate’ after 738 more people Friday.  

Cuomo’s claims align with reports that the three-day average of hospitalizations and ICU admissions have fallen. There were only 85 hospitalizations on Friday.  

In New York, there are more than 181,000 confirmed cases and at least 8,627 deaths. 

The city recorded 94,409 and a death toll of 5,429. 

He added that New Yorkers must continue to practice social distancing, noting that people cannot let the anxiety of stay-in-place orders override logic.   

As of Saturday, no decision has been made regarding re-opening businesses but could be as early as May. 

‘Why are people against reopening? Why are people in favor of reopening? That is corrosive and destructive and if we don’t stop it, it will feed on itself. and there are no political conspiracies here. 

‘You start to hear this dialogue on reopening and you start to hear people with political theories on whether we should reopen fast or whether we should reopen sooner,’ he said.

It was announced by New York City officials that they’ve shortened the amount of time unclaimed bodies will be held before they are taken to Hart Island – the city’s public cemetery.  

It’s unclear if the recent increase in interments included COVID-19 victims or if they passed away before the outbreak and were being transported from morgues to make room for the newly dead. 

That number of burials began increasing last month as the new coronavirus spread rapidly and New York became the epicenter of the pandemic. 

The chief medical examiner’s spokeswoman, Aja Worthy-Davis, said on Thursday it would take time to collate individual causes of death from the office’s records, but that it was probable some of the recent burials include those felled by the coronavirus. 

Meanwhile, local morgues and funerals homes are overwhelmed by the influx of deaths. 

Brooklyn undertaker Thomas Cheeseman said funeral homes  are so backed up, some people will inevitably end up being temporarily interred.

Cheeseman said the new deadlines are putting a strain on funeral homes as more and more families seek arrangements for loved ones fallen by coronavirus.

‘We, the funeral directors, are overwhelmed,’ Cheeseman said. 

 

 

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