Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” anchor Jake Tapper criticized Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D-NY) poster illustrating the “111 days of hell,” in New York during its peak of coronavirus cases.
The poster included several personal jokes about Cuomo’s family.
Tapper said, “New York’s Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo seems to be on something of a victory tour congratulating the state and himself for defeating the virus. Even selling this poster, which shows his state getting over the mountain by bringing down the curve during the 111 days of hell, as the governor put it.”
He continued, “The poster includes references his daughters, a boyfriend, little inside jokes. There are no illustrations, however, of the more than 32,000 dead New Yorkers, the highest death toll by far of any state. No rendering on that poster of criticism that Governor Cuomo ignored warnings, no depiction of the study that he could have saved thousands of lives had he and Mayor De Blasio acted sooner. No painting there on the poster of his since rescinded order that nursing homes take all infected patients in.”
In a clip, Cuomo said, “What we went through and what we did was historic because we did tame the beast. We did turn the corner. We did plateau that mountain. And then we came down the other side. And they will be talking about what we did for decades to come.”
Tapper said, “Look, I know a lot of New Yorkers are happy that the infection numbers are down and, you know, we all hope that they stay down. But let’s be clear, this is revisionism. A lot of the crowing and governor Cuomo going on “Late Night” is offending a lot of New Yorkers, given the fact that this is the highest death toll of any state more than 32,000 dead. The next closet is New Jersey, with 17,000. Are people going to be talking about what governor Cuomo did for decades to come in the way he hopes?”
CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, said, “I’m a little surprised by that poster because I think, if anything, what this virus has taught us is that we need to have a significant amount of humility. This virus surprises us over and over again. There’s no place in the country that’s not vulnerable. And I think that we should’ve learned — I think we have learned — that victory laps are not the thing to be doing because we’re not through this by a long shot, sad to say, even in New York.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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