President Donald Trump should sign an executive order to require people to wear a mask while in public in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday said. 

At the same time, Cuomo urged the president to wear a mask himself while in public. 

"Let the president have the same sense and do it as an executive order," he said. "Let the president lead by executive order and put a mask on it."

New York's coronavirus cases continued to fall after being an epicenter of the virus in March and April. Over the last 24 hours, more than 46,000 tests found an infection rate of less than 1 percent. 

Eight people have died from the virus in the last day, while 853 patients remained hospitalized.

Cuomo remains concerned the virus will spread from much of the rest of the country where it is now spiking. He blamed the federal government in large part for the reoccurence as economies in other states reopening. 

"The denial by the federal government of the severity of this virus was followed by the federal government's abandonment of responsibility," he said. 

Western New York will enter the fourth phase of the economic reopening on Tuesday, but the pace of the process may be slowed in New York City, Cuomo said. 

Phase four of the reopening so far has not included gyms and movie theathers or other large indoor venues where people gather. 

But Cuomo remains concerned the pandemic can return to New York. A decision on whether to allow indoor dining in New York City restaurants is expected on Wednesday, Cuomo said. 

"New York is a hub," Cuomo said. "If other states have a high infection rate, the probability is they are going to wind up infecting New York."

Cuomo last week announced a quarantine for people who are traveling in to New York from states with high COVID infection rates requiring them to isolate for 14 days.