Cuomo’s press play
All through the first wave of COVID, Gov. Cuomo held in-person, indoor press conferences, suspending them only on Dec. 8, 2020, in accession to reporters’ requests. In recent weeks, with COVID cases waning and vaccinations increasing, Cuomo has played a cynical game, using the guise of COVID safety to bar reporters from increasingly frequent public appearances. In what we’re sure is a complete coincidence, the governor has done this just as questions are swirling about sexual harassment allegations and nursing home death totals.
Compare and contrast: He’s raised capacity limits at indoor arenas and at museums, and is allowing indoor gatherings of as many as 100 people. At recent indoor events, he’s allowed attendance by supporters who often don’t social distance or who remove their face masks to speak, like a recent announcement with Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Yet on April 6, he cited “COVID restrictions” to block reporters from an in-person announcement at the Javits Center, despite the facility’s ability to safely accommodate thousands of people each day getting vaccinations. On April 14, he used the same justification to block media from Belmont Park racetrack, belying the substance of his announcement — that the state would safely reopen the track to 20,000 in-person visitors.
On Friday, Cuomo, put on the spot, partly relented, saying he’d begin allowing reporters to events held outside, because “the weather is nicer, so starting next week, we will have it outside. We will have press at the press conferences.” For a man who pledged to follow the science, that is still glaringly at odds with the rules and regulations he’s imposed elsewhere in the state.
New Yorkers who want to attend a Knicks game can now get in by showing proof of vaccination, either the CDC-issued card or through the state’s Excelsior Passport app. If Cuomo wants to follow his own rules, why not let vaccinated reporters and attendees at indoor events show proof of vaccination when they arrive?