Andrew Cuomo’s pandemic response in NY fueled by politics, not science, former health officials say

Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s approach to the pandemic was largely fueled by politics and preserving his own ego rather than actual science, according to a new report.

Former state health officials described the Cuomo administration as a “frantic” environment where public health experts “were not just overruled, but constantly responding to Cuomo’s ‘ridiculous demands’ that were expected to take precedence,” Politico reported Friday.

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Cuomo, who resigned in August amid multiple scandals, prioritized his Emmy-winning televised press conferences above all else, which “diverted people’s attention to service the press conference instead of servicing the running of the state,” a former Department of Health staffer said.

“It became more about the press conference and about the issue that he was talking about at the press conference,” the staffer said.

Cuomo “was managing by press release, by press conference. If he saw a bad story he pivoted, and we reacted to it, the policies reacted to it. Everyone who worked with him put up with it. But he got a lot of kudos,” a member of the former governor’s COVID-19 task force told Politico.

In the summer of 2020, Cuomo reportedly asked the state health department to deploy an “army” of roughly 5,000 employees to enforce COVID-19-related rules at restaurants, because he wanted to publicly tout his crackdown on violators. An official charged with the deployment called it an “impossible request” and said he ended up only enlisting 50 employees.

“[T]op officials quickly formed a plan they hoped would placate the mercurial governor until he moved on to some other idea,” Politico reported….