- Cuomo’s refusal to take CDC’s advice on masks shows his addiction to power
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Although this op-ed focuses on Governor Cuomo's refusal to follow CDC guidance on masks, it makes a point to reveal the farce in Governor Cuomo's claim his administration followed CDC guidance in imposing its deadly 25 March 2020 directive:
Trust the science. That’s what Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been telling us for the past year in justifying the draconian and crippling COVID measures enacted under his emergency powers.
The restrictions were not his fault, he suggested; he had to follow the directives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He even endlessly claimed (disingenuously) that it was the CDC’s guidance that led to his order forcing nursing homes to take COVID-contagious patients, resulting in more deaths in those facilities.
Yet now that the CDC has granted vaccinated Americans a reprieve from wearing masks, the Emperor of New York says he knows better. Now it’s: Screw the science, keep the masks on — and don’t take them off until I say so.
Cuomo announced last week that New York would not follow the new CDC guidance but would instead make its own call regarding the ubiquitous face fabric. The governor, you see, and his health commissioner, Howard Zucker (with whom he teamed up to doom hundreds of elderly New Yorkers with that disastrous nursing-home policy), have to first review the policy before greenlighting any mercy for the masked.
The New York Department of Health's deadly 25 March 2020 directive forced New York nursing homes to blindly admit COVID patients after they were discharged from hospitals to free up their bed space. The policy is estimated to have contributed at least 1,000 more COVID deaths than would have occurred without it in New York's nursing homes.
Update: The hypocrisy didn't last long as Governor Cuomo caved in the face of science.
- Cuomo: New York will end most mask requirements for vaccinated people Wednesday
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The order will go into effect on Wednesday, 19 May 2021.
Vaccinated New Yorkers will no longer be required to wear masks or face coverings in most settings beginning Wednesday, under new state regulations that align the state with CDC guidance....
“We have to get back to life and living, and we have to deal with the way New Yorkers do it. We have to do it quickly and robustly,” Cuomo said. “Effective this Wednesday we're going to adopt the CDC’s new guidance and regulations on masks and social distancing for vaccinated people.”
