How New York Officials Botched Covid Response

New York City and state officials, including those in the Health Department, are to blame for the devastating impact of COVID-19 that galloped across the burroughs, swamped city hospitals and killed thousands of its citizens.  Their actions are incomprehensible and indefensible. 

The result of their negligence is born out in the terrifying numbers from New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S.  New York City has accounted for 30.7% of all the fatalities and 29% of confirmed cases in the country, yet represents just 2.5% of the nation's population.

The latest data from The New York Times paints a grim picture.  There have been 321,833 people infected in the city and 24,576 deaths as of today.  To put this in perspective, New York City has more fatalities than entire countries, such as Germany, Russia and Poland.

New York apologists claim the density of the city and its sprawling transportation are the reason for the excessive number of deaths and cases.  No doubt, density and transportation are unique environmental circumstances to New York City, but also to many major cities around the world.

Officials in New York cannot escape responsibility by citing their surroundings.  Their actions and inactions have left an indelible mark on the crisis.  Both Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill DeBlasio have a lot of explaining to do to their citizens.

Months after President Trump restricted travel to China, the mayor and his top health official were telling citizens to take the subway and attend parades.  Both public figures were openly advising city dwellers that the virus was not as widespread as people thought.

Unfortunately, for them video tape and news archives provide damning evidence.  On February 2, New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot urged citizens to "take the subway" go out to their favorite restaurants, ride the bus and attend the Chinatown parade.  The mayor agreed.

On February 7, Barbot suggested the risks of the virus were minimal for New Yorkers.  Her words: "We're telling New Yorkers, go about your lives, take the subway, go out, enjoy life."  She downplayed the spread of the virus, suggesting the risks were minimal.

Not to be outdone, DeBlasio three days later appeared on MSNBC and urged New Yorkers under 50 years old they were safe from the virus.  "If you're under 50 and healthy, which is most New Yorkers, there is very little threat here." He likened the virus to the "common cold or flu."

On March 3, when it was clear a pandemic was coming, DeBlasio took to social media to promote going to movie theaters and "encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives and get out on the town despite Coronavirus."  Many New Yorkers followed the mayor's lead.

As if his incompetence wasn't enough, the mayor offended millions of New Yorkers by scapegoating Jews during the virus outbreak.  His words:

"My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is simple: the time for warnings has passed.  I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons on even arrest those who gather in large groups.  This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period."

His warning came after a single Orthodox Jewish funeral was held.  Jeff Ballabon, a lawyer and former CBS executive, and Mark Goldfeder, a law professor, scolded the governor, saying "Jews across the spectrum overwhelmingly adhered to the guidelines."

The mayor also was uneven in application of justice, allowing funerals in some areas to proceed while targeting Orthodox Jews.  "Stereotyping a group based on the actions of a few people is never appropriate...and blaming Jews is by definition anti-Semitic, " Balabon and Goldfeder wrote.

Meanwhile, the city's subways kept shuttling 5 million people daily.  It was a prescription for a disaster that would unfold in March and throughout April.  On April 24, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released a study documenting the subways seeded the massive outbreak.

"New York City's multi-pronged subway system was a major disseminator--if not the principal transmission vehicle--of Coronavirus infection during the initial takeoff of the massive epidemic that became evident throughout the city during March," the 19-page report concluded.

The report's author wrote: "A crowded subway train is thus an ideal incubator for Coronavirus transmission."  The virus continued to spread along subway lines through at least the third week of March.  At the height of the outbreak, the Metropolitan Transit Authority made a fatal decision.

The agency opted to reduce train service to reflect declining ridership, which packed more passengers in fewer subway cars.  The cars were not being disinfected each time the subway emptied out, the report revealed. The agency's decision "enhanced the risk of the contagion," the data confirmed.

Governor Cuomo, who has been universally praised for his handling of the contagion by the media, made the call to keep the subways running. Under New York law, the governor controls the subways.  The MTA in the midst of a surging virus has continued to operate on a reduced schedule.

But that isn't Cuomo's only error in judgment.  He made a worst decision that has led to thousands of deaths. After consulting with his health officials, Cuomo ordered nursing and rehabilitation centers to take in COVID-19 patients.

His logic was that it would relieve the burden on hospitals and thus save lives by allowing more people to be treated.  It backfired with disastrous results.  Placing infected patients with the most vulnerable in society, the elderly and sick, was beyond the pale of comprehension.

The state now concedes that 3,448 residents of nursing homes and adult care facilities died of the virus.  That is nearly 25% of the deaths in the city.  However, the reports have been sketchy leading many officials to acknowledge that the real numbers might be even higher.

Cuomo's move also has to be viewed through the context that the first full scale outbreak of the virus in the U.S. took place in a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, where at least 24 patients have died.  How could the governor and his state health officials ignore the danger to elderly people?

Cuomo's decision was conceived the same exact week that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease, made this public statement carried by nearly every media outlet:

"It's so clear that the overwhelming weight of serious disease and mortality is on those who are elderly and those with a serious comorbidity, heat disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, obesity, respiratory difficulties."  His pronouncement was made at the American Medical Association.

There are other indictments of city officials. For instance, a funeral home overwhelmed by hospitals transporting COVID fatalities to their establishment, began storing dozens of bodies in unrefrigerated rented U-Haul trucks outside the facility.

The practice only came to light when neighbors complained about the smell outside the funeral home.  Police were summoned to investigate.  They found 50 corpses in trucks and sprawled on the funeral home's floor.  No criminal charges were filed.  It is unconscionable act of cruelty. 

For their parts, not surprisingly both DeBlasio and Cuomo have refused to accept any responsibility for the New York City debacle. They prevaricate, blame the current administration and accuse others of malfeasance.  The may get away with it because most media outlets have covered up for the pair.

At a news conference, the governor was asked directly about his nursing home order that sentenced thousands of seniors to death.  His answer was stunning. "That's a good question.  I don't know."  He turned to the state health commissioner Howard Zucker for a further explanation.

"If you are positive, you should be admitted back to a nursing home," Zucker told reporters.  "The necessary precautions will be taken to protect the other residents there."  Obviously, the number of nursing home deaths are proof the "necessary precautions" were not taken.

On a personal note, I recognize many reading are invested in holding President Trump solely responsible for bungling the COVID response.  They will not be moved by the facts about the negligence of the New York City mayor and the state's governor.  Sadly, the truth no longer matters.