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A cyclist and pedestrians wear protective masks as they cross 23rd Street on Tuesday in New York.
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Cuomo: Wear a mask to respect nurses who died to save us

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

Cuomo: Wear a mask to respect nurses who died to save us

NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called face masks a sign of respect for others on a day the state reported 195 new deaths. 

Warning that the state isn’t out of danger yet, Mr. Cuomo on Tuesday urged New Yorkers to wear masks out of respect for the nurses and doctors who have died to protect people from the pandemic, which he said had killed another 195 people.

During his daily briefing, Mr. Cuomo recounted a tense conversation about masks he had with a man while on a recent walk with his daughter. He said people should be aware that masks, which are worn to reduce the wearer’s chance of infecting others, are a sign of respect to everyone they walk past, as well as to workers pulling society through the outbreak.

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“This mask says, ‘I respect the nurses and doctors who killed themselves through this virus to save other people. And I respect the nurses and the doctors, so I’m not going to infect anyone or allow anyone else to be infected unnecessarily so I don’t cause more stress on the nurses and the doctors,’ ” Mr. Cuomo said.

New York requires people to wear face coverings when in close proximity to others in public. As people grow wearier of the extended lockdown, some complain that requirement infringes on individual liberty.

Mr. Cuomo instead stressed “reciprocal responsibility” as some upstate areas prepare to start phasing in economic activity this week.

The 195 deaths recorded in New York are a jump from 161 the previous day, but still about a quarter of the highest daily tallies just over a month ago. Hospitalization rates also continue to decline.

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Also, nine out of 10 people arrested for coronavirus-related offenses in New York City have been black or Hispanic, police department data released Tuesday shows.

Of 125 arrested between March 16 and Sunday, 83 were black, 30 were Hispanic, 9 were white and 3 were Asian.

The New York Police Department says the pandemic-related arrests fall into broad categories such as hate crimes, domestic violence and resisting arrest. They include fights that broke out over cutting supermarket lines and a bank robbery suspect who gave a note to a teller saying, “this is a bank robbery, I have COVID.”

“These are not social distancing arrests,” the department said in a statement. “Many were responses to calls for service where there was a clear victim and police took necessary action.”

Data released Friday showed that of the 374 summonses issued through May 5 for violating social distancing orders, 52% were given to black people and 30% to Hispanic people.

The Legal Aid Society, a public defender group, called on the NYPD to release a “full and transparent accounting of all police encounters related to social distancing enforcement” including locations of each encounter and demographic details for people stopped, given summonses or arrested.

The organization also wants the department to make public the guidance it’s providing officers on social distancing enforcement.

First Published May 13, 2020, 12:39am

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Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
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