Dr. Marc Siegel urges Cuomo to ease lockdown restrictions: 'Let our people go ... it's time to loosen up'

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Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel urged New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lift the state-wide lockdown order and "let our people go" after Cuomo announced Wednesday that 66 percent of the state's newly hospitalized coronavirus cases had been sheltering in place at home, not essential workers who have been traveling.

CUOMO SURPRISED THAT MOST NEW CORONAVIRUS CASES ARE FROM RESIDENTS WHO STAYED HOME

"Governor Cuomo, I have a message for you. Let our people go," Siegel told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Wednesday. "Let some of our people get back to work. Transit workers are not spreading this, people at work are not spreading this. I’m not saying open the restaurants, I’m not saying open the bars, I’m not saying open sporting events, but I’m saying working — working is what our economy needs and for public health we can do it."

"Governor Cuomo, I have a message for you: Let our people go."

— Dr. Marc Siegel

Cuomo reported that 18 percent of newly hospitalized cases came from nursing homes, four percent from assisted-living facilities, fewer than one percent came from jail or prison, two percent came from the homeless population, and two percent came from other congregate-care facilities.

"I want to tell you," Siegel said, "from a public health point of view, how they spread this. It’s the way we’ve always felt ... by sneezing, by coughing. By being too close and having symptoms and spreading. Not by touching the subway pole."

Siegel said New York has "flattened the curve," and predicts the number of new coronavirus will continue to stay "way down."

"I can tell you from my own hospital, [we're] going way down," he said. "That’s flattening the curve. It’s time to loosen up, governor."

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As of Wednesday evening, New York had reported 323,978 confirmed cases and 20,597 COVID-19 related deaths.

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