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Democratic National Convention 2020: Cuomo calls Covid-19 a metaphor, Internet says he 'killed senior citizens'

Cuomo said, 'New Yorkers were ground zero for the Covid virus and have gone from one of the highest infection rates on the globe to one of the lowest'

The Democratic National Convention 2020 has kicked off, but it surely is going to be different this time.  Due to the global pandemic, the convention will be almost entirely virtual as the delegates will not be on location in Milwaukee. Joseph Biden Jr and Kamala Harris will deliver their speeches from nearly 700 miles away in Wilmington, Delaware.

The convention will also host speeches from Democratic leaders both past and present, and one such speech was delivered by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Posted on the official Twitter handle of the Democratic National Committee, Cuomo began the speech by saying, "New Yorkers were ground zero for the Covid virus and have gone from one of the highest infection rates on the globe to one of the lowest. We climbed the impossible mountain and right now we are on the other side."

He went on to thank, on behalf of New Yorkers, those who came to their aid and the "30,000 Americans who volunteered". He then went on to say, "In many ways Covid is just a metaphor, a virus attacks when the body is weak and when it cannot defend itself. Over these past few years, America's body politic has been weakened; the divisions have been growing deeper."

He attacked the current administration by claiming, "Our current federal government is dysfunctional and incompetent, it couldn't fight off the virus. In fact, it didn't even see it coming. The European virus infected the Northeast while the White House was still fixated on China. The virus had been attacking us for months before they even knew it was here."

He stated, "Americans learned the critical lesson, how vulnerable we are when we are divided. And how many lives can be lost when our government is incompetent." Cuomo finished his speech by saying, "Now we need a leader as good as our people. A leader who appeals to the best within us, not the worst, a leader who can unify not divide, a leader who can bring us up not tear us down. I know that man. I've worked with that man. I've seen his talent, I've seen his strength. I've seen his pain, and I've seen as hard. That man is Joe Biden. Joe Biden is what I call America tough, tough in the best way. Tough that is smart united disciplined and loving. Joe Biden can restore the soul of America. And that's exactly what our country needs today."

His speech might have been passionate but it didn’t go down well with social media. An angry user alleged, "Cuomo got a sh*t load of old people killed and they are trying to gaslight the f**k out of people."

Another commented, "If we ever needed someone to show us how to murder 10K senior citizens, Andrew Cuomo is the man to follow."

Another said, "Leadership of this state has brought nothing but destruction and in the city deblasio is no different. Crime is up, streets are disgusting and everything in between. Put the money into the land and not your pocket. Your ego for yourself should be the energy for us. @NYGovCuomo"

Another stated, "Cuomo refuses to take responsibility for forcing nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients, a reckless policy that may have killed thousands more elderly than Cuomo has officially acknowledged."

A user alleged, "Governor Cuomo purposely sent a bunch of grandma's to their deaths. That's the tweet."

Another commented, "Dem governors Cuomo and Gretchen sharing best practices on how to transfer COVID infected people to nursing homes, at the DNC convention tonight. Lock up your grandparents folks."

An April report in the New York Post stated that New York's nursing homes weren’t allowed to challenge the order that mandates them to admit patients with Covid-19. The report stated that the order has been blamed for spreading the deadly disease among residents. The report quotes Cuomo as saying, "They don’t have a right to object. That is the rule and that is the regulation and they have to comply with that."

According to an Associated Press report, New York’s coronavirus death count in nursing homes is among the highest in the nation, and allegedly  it might be undercount. As per the report, New York only counts residents who died on nursing home property and not people who were shifted to hospitals and died like other states. The report further stated that Cuomo has avoided divulging the numbers which lead to speculations that the state might be manipulating data to make it appear it is doing better than other states. 

According to the report, Cuomo brushed off questions related to nursing home deaths in New York by claiming they are politically motivated. The report quoted Cuomo as saying, "Look at the basic facts where New York is versus other states. You look at where New York is as a percentage of nursing home deaths, it’s all the way at the bottom of the list."

The report states in another briefing, last month, he said New York’s percentage ranking as 35th in the nation. He is quoted as saying, "Go talk to 34 other states first. Go talk to the Republican states now — Florida, Texas, Arizona — ask them what is happening in nursing homes. It’s all politics."

A recent CNBC report stated, on Monday, August 17, that Cuomo said gyms will be allowed to resume operations at 33% capacity from next week. The report further stated that Cuomo said 0.7% of all coronavirus tests in New York came back positive on Sunday, the most recent data available, and added that the average in the state is below 1% since June. As per the report, Cuomo claimed only six people died of Covid-19 on Sunday, as compared to more than 800 daily deaths that the state saw in April. 

MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) cannot independently verify and does not support any claims being made on the Internet.