Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo blamed public health agencies, the intelligence community and the media over the COVID-19 entering the United States.
At a press briefing at the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, Cuomo stated, "The virus was in China last November and December. Why didn't someone suspect, well maybe the virus gets on a plane...and lands in the United States the next day?"
Photo Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters
He called out WHO, the NIH and the CDC for their failure at preventing the virus from spreading out of China.
He called out the intelligence community for failing to provide briefings that a killer virus was in China and could be brought into other countries by hopping on planes.
He called out media companies like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal for not saying, "Be careful, there's a virus in China that may be in the United States."
As Cuomo listed off different organizations that are at blame for the virus entering the United States, he did exempt one group from the share of responsibility: "Governors don't do global pandemics, right? It's not a state responsibility."
While it is true that Cuomo's authority is not on an international level, he has been criticized for parts of his response once the virus entered New York. He lagged behind New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio's advice on wearing face masks in public and stood by an earlier order that nursing homes accept COVID-19 positive residents, while acknowledging that the elderly are most at risk.
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