Cuomo calls for hazard pay for coronavirus frontline workers

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a 50% bonus for police, firefighters, medical personnel, mass transit employees and other essential workers on the front-lines of coronavirus.

As New York is seeing the spread of the coronavirus curb within its borders, the frontline workers responsible for running hospitals, food services, and transit while the rest of the state has been on lockdown should be rewarded, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.

At a press briefing, Cuomo proposed that the federal stimulus plan should include hazard pay for frontline workers, many of whom are people of color.

“Thanks is nice, but also recognition of their efforts and their sacrifice is also appropriate,” Cuomo said. “They are the ones that are carrying us through this crisis, and this crisis is not over.”

New York has seen lower hospitalization rates and fewer deaths from the coronavirus in recent days, pointing to the possibility that the state could be coming up on the other side of the virus’ curve. Still, the state remains by far the epicenter of the coronavirus in the US in terms of the confirmed number of patients with COVID-19. The state had more than 248,000 cases as of Monday morning.