12 November 2021: Transcripts - Cuomo Blocked NY State Health Dept. from Working With NYC Officials During Pandemic

Andrew Cuomo barred his health dept. from working with NYC officials during pandemic, ex-honcho says

This report covers another aspect of Dr. Elizabeth Dufort's testimony in the state attorney general's probe of Andrew M. Cuomo's sexual harassment allegations, in which the former health state health department official described the toxic environment in New York's governor's office that contributed to deadly outcomes during 2020's coronavirus pandemic.

A former top state Health Department infectious disease expert testified that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office barred the agency from working closely with the New York City Health Department and other county public health officials during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

Dr. Elizabeth Dufort, the former medical director of the state DOH’s office of epidemiology who personally administered Cuomo’s first COVID-19 swab test last year, made the bombshell claim during questioning by lawyers hired by state Attorney General Letitia James who investigated sexual harassment and other allegations leveled against the ex-governor.

“We were not allowed to collaborate with our peers in the local health departments and New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene which is a critical component in an outbreak response to collaborate with different facets of public health,” Dufort, identified as state employee #2, said in more than 200 pages of witness testimony.

She noted that it’s the local health officials who implement policies, particularly during a pandemic.

“So generally, so not being able to collaborate with them in the way we normally would really hindered our ability to perform our jobs we felt,” Dufort said.

This report goes on to describe how the barriers Cuomo and his top staffers imposed obstructed the state health department from engaging with the local health officials.