Washington (CNN)New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday urged President Donald Trump to take swift action on "three clear imperatives" that he says are necessary to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, including using the Army Corps of Engineers to add more medical facilities.
In an op-ed published in The New York Times, Cuomo, a Democrat, wrote that Trump should use Army Corps personnel "to leverage its expertise, equipment and people power to retrofit and equip existing facilities -- like military bases or college dormitories -- to serve as temporary medical centers."
Cuomo argued that absent immediate action, the US hospital system could fail under the weight of patients needing care for coronavirus, and using Army Corps personnel wouldn't violate federal law because Trump has declared the pandemic a national emergency.
The governor wrote that although "doing so still won't provide enough intensive care beds ... it is our best hope."
Cuomo said that Trump should also ease Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regulations to make it easier for testing to occur across the country.
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"Mr. Trump, don't let bureaucracy get in the way of fighting this virus. Break the logjam, let states fully take over testing so they can unleash hundreds of labs tomorrow and bring testing to scale," he wrote. "It is the only way we will have a chance of keeping up with the rapid spread of this contagion."
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on the piece.
As the pandemic continues to take hold in the US, officials are working to increase the availability of coronavirus tests, while also working to make clear in what cases people should seek them. Though there has been a recent increase in laboratories that can develop and perform diagnostic testing, reports have emerged of people having difficulty getting tested.
Cuomo also called for "a uniform federal standard for when cities and states should shut down commerce and schools, or cancel events."
Numerous national and local events have been canceled or postponed across the country in recent days in an effort to curb the spread of the disease, but Cuomo noted that with some places not following the trend, the "inconsistency ... is counterproductive."
New York has become a center of attention during the pandemic, with 524 known cases and one death reported across the state. Cuomo had directed that events in New York with more than 500 people be canceled or postponed, while in suburban New Rochelle, officials put into effect a 1-mile containment zone after the town was found to be a coronavirus cluster.
As of Sunday afternoon, there were at least 3,130 cases cases of coronavirus in the US and the disease had resulted in at least 62 deaths, according to figures from state and local health agencies, governments and the CDC.
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