New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is reportedly being investigated by the US Attorney’s office in Brooklyn and the FBI over his coronavirus task force’s response to the pandemic.
According to the Albany Times Union, the investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office is in its early stages and focuses on the work of “some of the senior members of the governor’s task force.”
The Times Union reports:
Nearly three weeks after the governor’s task force was announced last year, the state health department issued an order directing nursing homes and other long-term care facilities that they must accept residents who were being discharged from hospitals even if they were still testing positive for the infectious disease, as long as they were able to care for them properly.
That directive, which was rescinded less than two months later, has been the focus of a firestorm of criticism directed at Cuomo’s administration, including allegations that the order — which the governor said was based on federal guidance — had contributed to the high number of fatalities of nursing home residents in New York. That assertion was largely dismissed in a report by the Department of Health that was released in July.
In January, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a report which concluded the Cuomo Administration delayed reporting that thousands of nursing home patients died after getting infected at their facilities and that New York’s nursing home policy may have increased COVID infections.
Last night, CNN issued a statement that it’s host Chris Cuomo, who is the brother of the governor, will no longer be covering the administration after offering the New York leader fawning coverage of his COVID-19 response for months after the pandemic began.
For the full report, click HERE.
Gov. Cuomo says addicts in rehab facilities will get COVID vaccine this week ahead of general population, elderly
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that addicts in the state’s rehabilitation facilities will be inoculated with the coronavirus vaccine this week, cutting in front of the general population and elderly people that aren’t living in nursing homes.
Meanwhile, the elderly are the most at-risk for contracting the virus.
At a press conference in Albany, Cuomo said that residents in facilities operated by the Office of Addiction Service and Supports will be given the vaccine, as well as employees at urgent care centers and health care workers tasked with administering the vaccines.
Cuomo said that after giving the vaccine to front line healthcare workers and nursing home residents last week, the state is expected to receive 259,000 combined doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this week, BizPacReview reports.
Cuomo said that OASAS is next in line because residents live in close quarters.
“That’s where you have a lot of people in concentration,” Cuomo said.
Individual states have set their own vaccine rollout plans. Some states, including Massachusetts, have announced plans to prioritize prisoners for vaccination.
Andrew Cuomo is shattering NYC’s restaurant business...for no reason
The restaurant industry is perhaps the most essential part of New York City’s social and economic sectors – from small, family-owned restaurants to world-renowned establishments, the industry is the second-largest component of tourism spending.
But, at least 4,500 restaurants have been forced to permanently close their doors thanks to Governor Cuomo’s never-ending coronavirus restrictions.
As cases continue to rise, the Democrat ordered an end to all indoor dining starting on Monday, with NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio in full support of the ban.
“The hospitalizations have continued to increase in New York City,” Cuomo said. “We said that we would watch it if the stabilization, if the hospital rate didn’t stabilize we would close indoor dining. It is now. We’re gonna close indoor dining in the city on Monday.”
Cuomo’s decision has received enormous backlash because of its disregard for the facts.
Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, blasted the dining ban, calling it “insanity” in a Twitter rant Friday.
Politicians Are Stealing the Basic Right To Earn A Living pic.twitter.com/9Yx9Vf1iP1
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 11, 2020
“I can’t believe in this country, what I consider the most basic right of them all, the right to earn a living, the right to earn a livelihood, is now being stolen,” he continued. “It is being stolen by a few politicians who believe they are smarter than me and you.”
According to the state’s contact tracing program, restaurants and bars have contributed a mere 1.4 percent to the total number of cases, while personal gatherings have driven nearly 75 percent.
So, essentially, Cuomo is shutting down an industry, pulverizing small businesses and putting workers out of a job only to make a microscopic dent in case numbers.
And restaurant owners are infuriated.
“We’ve been following everything that they gave us – the guidelines, we changed our air filter systems, we do the protocols of taking temperatures, getting people to sign the [contact tracing] papers, everything from A to Z,” one restaurant owner told the New York Post. “It’s just not right you have small businesses that are day to day surviving, and day to day they’re trying to pay the bills and day to day trying to feed their staff who are trying to feed their kids.”
Closing down restaurants takes away one of the few options New York City residents have to socialize, and because humans need social interactions, household gatherings will likely skyrocket – and so will case numbers.
