One year ago, right around the time that CNN’s Chris Cuomo was assuring his viewers that we are “all in this together,” he was personally monopolizing the time of a New York state doctor who had been tasked with helping to coordinate COVID-19 testing in nursing homes.
According to the Washington Post, the younger Cuomo was one of a number of VIPs who were given priority access to COVID tests, then much-needed in New York nursing homes and just about everywhere else in the metropolitan area, thanks to their personal proximity to New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
WaPo:
And a top state physician whose pandemic portfolio involved coordinating testing in nursing homes was dispatched multiple times to the Hamptons home of CNN host Chris Cuomo, the governor’s brother, in testing visits that sometimes stretched hours, according to two people with knowledge of the consultations.
The report goes on to identify the state doctor as Eleanor Adams, who was responsible for ensuring that the most high-risk New Yorkers were tested as soon as possible:
Among Cuomo relatives, Chris Cuomo’s family received attention that appeared to go beyond that of others, receiving multiple visits at their Hamptons home from Department of Health physician Eleanor Adams, according to two people familiar with the visits.
At the time, Adams had a senior role for the state, coordinating testing issues for high-risk settings such as nursing homes. Cuomo’s home in Southampton is roughly 90 miles from New York City.
Adams, who is now a senior adviser to Zucker, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Apparently, for Adams and the governor, Chris Cuomo’s $2.5 million Southampton mansion qualifies as a “high-risk” setting, and Adams was working overtime to make sure its inhabitants were well taken care of.
So, not only did Governor Cuomo implement a policy that directly led to as many as 1,000 additional nursing-home deaths, and not only did he cover it up, but he actually wasted precious COVID tests and the time of the doctor tasked with making sure they reached the most vulnerable New Yorkers on his low-risk brother. (A spokesman for Cuomo claims that “to the extent that this happened,” the notorious micromanager was “not aware.”)
Putting aside the incredible amorality and cynicism on display here, the strategy actually makes sense when you consider that Chris was the only prominent interviewer the governor was willing to sit down with at the time. Couldn’t have him out sick at a time like that.