New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo | Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images Cuomo calls on Trump to invoke DPA for antibody tests

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on the Trump administration Friday to invoke the Defense Production Act to drastically ramp up production of testing that Cuomo says is integral to jumpstarting New York’s economy.

"We have 9 million people we want to get back to work,” Cuomo said during his daily briefing at the Capitol. “You're going to need government intervention to make that happen. And the federal government is in the best position to do that.”


The state Department of Health has begun making hundreds of antibody tests — which can be used to detect people who had been infected with the virus but recovered and built up immunity. It will be producing up to 2,000 per day in the next two weeks. By comparison, New York is testing more than 25,000 people a day now for the coronavirus.

But Cuomo said that’s “a drop in the bucket” relative to what would be needed to get millions of people back to work in any meaningful capacity, particularly if the neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut are factored in.

“Even with our high capacity and high performance on testing, it's still not enough,” Cuomo said. “It's not enough if you want to reopen on a meaningful scale and reopen quickly. So the testing front is going to be a challenge for us.”

Cuomo has said that widespread testing is crucial for society to be able to return to a sense of normalcy while still minimizing the potential of a “second wave” of coronavirus cases. There have been more than 170,500 cases in New York, according to its most recent figures, far more than any other state in the country.

The Democratic governor said that the DPA should also be used to scale up availability of so-called rapid testing, which provides coronavirus results in a matter of minutes, rather than days using the current testing kits.

Cuomo said New York will be forming a partnership with its tri-state counterparts to help facilitate testing and bring the economically vital New York City metro area back online. The regional approach has been integral to Cuomo's concept of how to get the state's economy back up and running.

“If you are willing to step in and use the federal powers, New York state and New Jersey and Connecticut will partner with the federal government and let's get the testing up to scale quickly, so we can start to build that bridge to reopening the economy," he said.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday he has spoken “conceptually” with Cuomo about the idea of a consortium, but had not specifically discussed New York’s antibody test with him.

“We have had directional discussions about needs to coordinate as we get back on our feet,” Murphy said during his press briefing on Friday. “Antibodies [testing is] part of that in the sense we need to make sure we have the right health care infrastructure at our disposal, not just in New Jersey but in our region.”

The Trump administration has been hesitant to fully embrace the sweeping authority afforded under the Korean War-era law, though it has increased its use in recent weeks to spur private companies to produce more ventilators and other vital medical supplies. Cuomo had previously railed against President Donald Trump's reluctance to use the DPA for ventilators.

In comments Friday afternoon, Trump said he'd spoken with Cuomo but didn't say whether he'd ramp up production through the DPA.

"We had a good talk, when you look at those numbers, the numbers of death, people that have died, it’s so horrible," the president said.

He added more than 2 million coronavirus tests have now been completed, and 100,000 are being conducted daily throughout the U.S.

"We’re also working to bring blood-based serology tests to the market as quickly as possible so that Americans can determine whether or not they have already had the virus and potentially have immunity," the president said. "They have immunity if they’ve had the virus, many of them don’t even know they’ve had it. Sometimes it’s brutal."

Public health experts say the presence of antibodies does not necessarily mean one is immune to the virus and that more study is needed in that area.

New York is still seeking an emergency use authorization from the FDA for its antibody test. Without one, the state has limited ability to build up the supply on its own.

To date, the FDA has only authorized one antibody test, manufactured by Cellex. "I want to say very clearly that no one should rely on any of the antibody tests on the market that have not gotten a formal [authorization] from the federal government — that means about 95 percent of them," HHS testing czar Brett Giroir told reporters Thursday night.

FDA, the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute are working to evaluate other antibody tests offered under an FDA policy that have not been reviewed by the agency, according to Giroir. "Once those are done ... you will see the federal government procuring a large number of those tests so we can have massive nationwide antibody testing, but we are not going to do that until we make sure we have validated tests," he said.

Cuomo also said he is working with New York’s congressional delegation to push for the creation of a compensation for workers on the frontlines of responding to the crisis and their families that’s akin to the one established in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“Saying thanks is nice,” he said. “Actually providing assistance is even better.”

David Lim and Sam Sutton contributed to this report.