© REUTERS/Mike SegarAndrew Cuomo wears a protective face mask a coronavirus briefing in Manhattan in New York City, New York
"There should be a national mask mandate," Cuomo tweeted on Thursday.
Unsurprisingly, the governor was instantly confronted with the photos of himself wearing no mask — which could be seen as doubly hypocritical and ironic since everyone else in the pictures are wearing masks.
"Mr. wear your mask not wearing a mask in Georgia," tweeted Fox News' Janice Dean, who lost both her mother-in-law and father-in-law to Covid-19 while they were residents in New York nursing homes.
"This guy really has no shame," another tweeter said. Some also pointed out that Cuomo was "touching and hugging" people in the photos while a killer virus was on the loose.
Cuomo has become somewhat of a star with the mainstream media in recent weeks as Covid-19 cases and deaths slowed in the state — though they still lead most of the nation by a wide margin. Dr. Anthony Fauci has praised the state as a success, and Cuomo has given puffy, light-hearted interviews with everyone from his own brother, Chris Cuomo, on CNN to late night hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert.
Cuomo's visit to Georgia this week — while others coming to and from his own state face travel restrictions — was even meant as an opportunity to talk up the supposed success of New York in the pandemic.
Praise for Cuomo, however, has been far from universal. Some have theorized that an early decision by the governor to force nursing homes to take in positive Covid-19 patients could have led to over 6,000 deaths in the state. Dean published a fierce op-ed blasting the decision by Cuomo, who has chalked up nursing home deaths to healthcare workers bringing the virus in.
His directive that patrons at New York bars could not buy alcohol without also ordering food also drew ire recently, as he even threatened to revoke liquor licenses to any businesses that defied his quickly unpopular orders. Bars took to swerving around the mandate by simply offering snack foods like pretzels at minuscule prices. Some even took to selling "Cuomo Chips" for the right to stay open.
Researchers have also blasted the state of New York as a primary spreader of the virus across the US, as the infection spread so rapidly there and hit other states before social distancing measures and mask mandates were put into place.
Comment: What's even worse than his hypocrisy is that Cuomo is content to remain abysmally ignorant of how benign the virus is for most people. He's content to congratulate himself on his authoritarian style and accrue more power - even as he destroys the state and the lives of millions he was elected to serve.
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