NEW YORK (WBEN) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo predicted Sunday that the U.S. is about to see "the worst" of the coronavirus pandemic so far as he warned it will be "a long two months" before President-elect Biden takes office.
"We're coming up to the worst two months, I think, that we may have seen vis-a-vis COVID. You see the numbers going crazy all across this country, all across the globe. Scientists said this was going to happen and you're seeing it in the fall with the cold coming back," Cuomo told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week."
"We're going to have a long two months," the Democratic governor warned. "Unfortunately, the Biden administration doesn't take office until January 20th. I know this was the election, but that's a long two months."
Cuomo said the nationwide vaccination plan now being implemented by the Trump administration is "probably the largest test we've had since COVID started."
He said it's a "huge undertaking" to get 330 million people vaccinated, adding that it took the U.S. seven months to do 120 million COVID tests.
"If this administration rolls out a flawed vaccination plan, it's going to be a problem, because it's going to be very hard for the Biden administration to turn it back," Cuomo warned.
Cuomo, who chairs the National Governors Association, said he expects some governors to "take a different tone" after Trump is out of office.
"I think the political pressure of denying COVID is gone. I think you'll see scientists speak with an unmuzzled voice now. And I think the numbers are going to go up, and Americans are going to get how serious this is," he said.
The U.S. reported over 120,000 new COVID cases on Saturday—breaking a single-day record and marking the third consecutive day new cases have topped 120,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
New York state reported 3,428 new COVID cases on Sunday, a little less than on Saturday, when it reported 3,587 new cases—the highest daily total since May.
The 3,428 new cases were out of 145,642 tests Saturday—a 2.35% positivity rate for the state. Friday's positivity rate was 2.19%.
New York City's positivity rate rose to 2.2% Saturday, up from 1.8% Friday.
Statewide hospitalizations were at 1,396 Saturday—up 15 patients from Friday. Of those patients, 295 were in intensive care and 131 were intubated.
The state also reported 18 more deaths, including six people in New York City, bringing its death toll to 25,947.
