We now know that Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had been packing coronavirus patients into nursing homes for weeks, possibly killing untold numbers of people. But while he was doing that, his CNN host little brother, Chris “Fredo” Cuomo was lashing out at Florida and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, suggesting they didn’t care about the lives of non-residents. Now, we know that New York’s handling of the crisis was a disaster while Florida faired pretty well.
During the April 29 edition of Cuomo PrimeTime, the lesser Cuomo ended his poorly-rated show with a segment dedicated to a conspiracy theory that Florida was trying to hide their coronavirus death toll. “All right. Look, I know there are numbers at you, flying all over the place. And I know it's hard to trust them. And I'm going to give you a new reason to be distrustful of the numbers,” he declared as he led into an interview with a Tampa Bay Times reporter.
In the course of the interview, it came up that Florida was holding back the death numbers so they could see how many of the dead were residents of the state. Cuomo saw this as some kind of nefarious plot to hide the facts. And claiming he was doing it out of a “surplus of fairness” (not because it was his job as a journalist), Cuomo decided to share the state’s reasoning:
Now, [reporter Kathleen] McGrory was already fair to them, but the Florida state response, just so you know here—a surplus of fairness is, “reporting deaths by residency is the appropriate method utilized to calculate disease rates which allow for a more accurate analysis of disease impacts on populations through the incorporation of demographic data. A critical aspect of public planning.”
“I don't buy it. Why? Because whether you're a resident or not, if you're in a place and they have to figure out public health planning, they have to plan for the people that are there,” he opined.
Then, raising his voice to a yell, Cuomo raged and suggested that this put into context why Florida allowed spring break to happen. It was because they didn’t care about the lives of non-residents:
And, if they were so concerned about this itinerant nature – you know, if you're not a full-time resident, then we're not really going to worry about you, then the whole Spring Break thing starts to make little bit more sense, about why they let people come down there who weren't residents, party their asses off, spread the disease, and then go back to all these different states, all right?
If his smear wasn’t clear enough, CNN Tonight host Don Lemon gave his friend a second chance to make the baseless accusation. “They're hiding the death numbers,” he yelled again. “But I'll tell you what it does explain, why they're so happy to let the spring breakers go down there, and do stupid stuff, and then go back to states all over the country carrying the virus. Cause they don't care about people who aren’t residents.”
“So, those people aren’t people, they don't matter,” Lemon sneered in agreement.
But the facts of the matter are that Florida had faired far better than the Cuomo fiefdom of New York. And during the 7:00 p.m. hour of MSNBC Live (Wednesday, May 13), host Steve Kornacki reported those facts. “Florida's new cases have actually declined by 14 percent, compared to the previous week,” He said, later noting that their two-week caseload was down 19 percent.
Chris did have Andrew on his show that same Wednesday night. They put on their faux tough interview shtick and completely avoided what happened in New York nursing homes. This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo PrimeTime
April 29, 2020
9:42:16 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: Florida's governor bragged at the White House how well his state is faring in comparison to others in this fight. But what we may not know is the full picture, specifically this. There’s been growing curiosity about the death toll in this country from COVID.
Two reasons. One, it ain't easy to count. Why? Because there are a lot of people who died without being tested, so you don't know what the cause of death was. That's a fair reason. Then there's another reason that may be specific to Florida in particular. Medical examiners saying officials are blocking them from releasing their own list of coronavirus deaths.
Is there any good reason for that? Let's talk to a journalist who is deep inside and helped break the story, next.
(…)
9:47:17 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: All right. Look, I know there are numbers at you, flying all over the place. And I know it's hard to trust them. And I'm going to give you a new reason to be distrustful of the numbers. And new reason to let us do our job and vet these numbers.
Florida. There’s a story of there where medical examiners, they’re the ones who keep counting deaths and all sorts of emergencies, it's a typical public protocol, and it's something you almost always have access to. You pay for it, why wouldn't you have access to the information, especially now? But, in this instance – circumstance with coronavirus, The Tampa Bay Times reports that the state made them – the medical examiners, stop releasing that information to you.
(…)
9:54:53 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: Now, McGrory was already fair to them, but the Florida state response, just so you know here—a surplus of fairness is, “reporting deaths by residency is the appropriate method utilized to calculate disease rates which allow for a more accurate analysis of disease impacts on populations through the incorporation of demographic data. A critical aspect of public planning.”
Now, listen, I don't buy it. Why? Because whether you're a resident or not, if you're in a place and they have to figure out public health planning, they have to plan for the people that are there. And, if they were so concerned about this itinerant nature – you know, if you're not a full-time resident, then we're not really going to worry about you, then the whole Spring Break thing starts to make little bit more sense, about why they let people come down there who weren't residents, party their asses off, spread the disease, and then go back to all these different states, all right?
So, that's the statement for the state. Doesn't me a lot of sense. You're going to hear more about this. We'll be right back.
(…)
CNN Tonight
10:00:47 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: What were you all fired up about as I was getting plugged in? Something about Florida. What were you getting fired up about? Spring break --
CUOMO: They're hiding the death numbers. They’re hiding the death numbers. And they put out a response about why and they say, ‘Well, you really own the want to count deaths by residents. And if you're not a resident here, we don’t really count that and that's what we're adjusting for right now.”
LEMON: So, those people aren’t people, they don't matter?
CUOMO: It doesn’t make any sense. First of all, if you have a situation in your midst, it doesn't matter if it's coming from residents or nonresidents. But I'll tell you what it does explain, why they're so happy to let the spring breakers go down there, and do stupid stuff, and then go back to states all over the country carrying the virus. Cause they don't care about people who aren’t residents.
LEMON: Late to close, early to open up. We'll see. I hope those numbers don't go up for the states who are opening up now, but I got to tell you, it doesn't look good, but I am praying. By the way, your brother was on fire today talking about people politicizing this pandemic. And I think a lot of people agree with him. That's all I'll say.
(…)
