New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is asking businesses in the state to allow workers to telecommute as the number of coronavirus cases in the state rises.

Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday, Cuomo said he will speak to business leaders in the state and encourage them to have workers work in two shifts and to telecommute in an attempt to reduce the density of commuters on public transportation and stymie the transmission of COVID-19.

"I'm going to speak to business leaders in New York today," Cuomo said. "I'm going to ask them voluntarily to do telecommuting, two shifts, a morning shift and a late shift, and let people work from home voluntarily."

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As cases of the coronavirus rise in the state, which has nearly 200 confirmed patients, Cuomo said that New York officials are trying to slow the spread and increase testing, adding that he hopes "the federal government is going to release the handcuffs" because "they've been controlling the process."

The governor compared the coronavirus to the devastating 2005 Hurricane Katrina, calling it the "public health version" of the storm and accusing the government of "a failed federal response and failed federal mobilization." He said "the federal government has just fallen down on the job" and it should hand control over to the states.

"So what I would say, what I have been saying to other governors, is you're on your own. You know, let the states take action," Cuomo said.

He called testing in the state "a fiasco," adding that New York doesn't "have testing capacity anywhere near what we need." He urged officials to increase testing, as just 5,000 tests have been conducted to date. He compared that number to the large-scale testing South Korea and China conducted, 15,000 a day and 200,000 a day, respectively.