What does the Cuomo family have against elderly people? First, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) killed scores of elderly people by ordering COVID patients into nursing homes, and then, on Tuesday, CNN’s Chris “Fredo” Cuomo decried how elderly-rich Florida getting more vaccine doses than New York. He even had the nerve to question whether Floridians “should” get the doses they need. And the logic (if you could even call it that) behind the argument, was an asinine mess.
This rant was all part of Chris’s so-called “Vacci-Nation” segment, which NewsBusters previously noted was Cuomo’s new segment where he pushed vaccine distribution conspiracy theories. And he was much more forward in flaunting his intention with the segment on night two. “Again, is this just about math? Or is it manipulation,” he proclaimed after noting Texas was slated to get a lot of doses.
According to Cuomo’s web of speculated dubious dealings, states with the most cases should get the most doses. And according to him, those states were “New York, California, Texas, Florida,” in that order. He said that while an on-screen graphic labeled California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New York as having the most cases, in that order. But at the same time, the graphic labeled the four states Cuomo listed as leading in deaths.
So, which metric were we supposed to use, cases or deaths?
Shifting the goalpost yet again, Cuomo demanded that vaccines be distributed based on “the scale of need” which included “nursing home patients and health care workers.” That’s when he lashed out at Florida in defense of his home state (Click “expand”):
Context, I know this guy named Cuomo up in New York. He said about 10,000 doses were administered yesterday. That leaves him just as exposed, given the scale of need, as he was without the vaccine, relatively. Every bit counts of course, but New York needs so much more and a lot faster or the curve of cases is going to go up longer and include more of the people that we need on the front lines. Time equals death here.
Governor DeSantis in Florida said they sent about 100,000 to five hospitals. But there's a delay as shipments for the next two weeks are, quote, “on hold right now.” Two issues. One, why did they get so many more than New York, is it true, that they did? Because the numbers seem to suggest it. Is that the answer?
But if “the scale of need” was the metric, then it was correct for Florida to get more doses. According to the Population Research Bureau, Florida has over four million residents above the age of 65 that add up to over 20 percent of the population. By comparison, New York had over three million similar residents which made up only 16.4 percent of the population.
Now, given that Texas was number two on the list of cases, Cuomo appeared unhinged as he lashed out at them for being scheduled to get a lot of doses. He even seemed to suggest Texas shouldn’t be considered because they were supposedly irresponsible:
But only one of the states that I just mentioned, Texas, is even scheduled to get close to enough doses to give everyone in the first group a single dose by the end of the year. Why Texas? It's not the biggest? Certainly hasn’t been the most responsible. Why Texas? In fact, of the five states that will get enough to give everyone in the first group a single dose by New Year’s, none of the states who will qualify that way are in the top 20 when it comes to case count.
At the end of that spiel, he was outraged that Kansas, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia were set to provide the first dose to all phase one recipients (the elderly and health care workers) by New Year’s.
On Tuesday, one of Cuomo’s demanded metrics for vaccine distribution was the caseload per state. But on Monday, he was raging over Illinois getting more doses than Ohio. “Illinois, the trend of new cases lower than Ohio. Got a lot more doses today. 43,000 arrived this morning compared to less than 2,000 in Ohio. Is that fair,” he wondered. But according to Tuesday’s graphic, Illinois was number four in most cases.
Again, which one of your metrics were we supposed to use, Chris? Or, were you just looking for something to bleat about?
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo PrimeTime
December 15, 2020
9:35:24 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: All right, Vacci-nation, Vacci-Nation, we’ll be using Sanjay, we’ll be using senators, we’ll going to states, we’ll be going to localities, I'm going to take what you are telling us about what you are hearing in your own community. Why? Because this matters and transparency is everything.
Where to focus the vaccine, who should get it? Okay. Well, if you start with the obvious metric, where are the most cases, where are people dying the most? It’s going to be your big states. New York, California, Texas, Florida. Okay.
But now let's look at those states. They also have the most health care workers, right? Because you have the most people. You have the most people, most population, most cases, most health care workers, most everything. Nursing home patients and health care workers, they need a lot and they’re first up for doses.
But only one of the states that I just mentioned, Texas, is even scheduled to get close to enough doses to give everyone in the first group a single dose by the end of the year. Why Texas? It's not the biggest? Certainly hasn’t been the most responsible. Why Texas? In fact, of the five states that will get enough to give everyone in the first group a single dose by New Years, none of the states who will qualify that way are in the top 20 when it comes to case count.
Again, is this just about math? Or is it manipulation?
We must not just track who needs what, but who gets what. And when, and of course, why. We’re just getting started, it's already an issue, as I just outlined to you. So, this means we’re going to have to be all over this.
Context, I know this guy named Cuomo up in New York. He said about 10,000 doses were administered yesterday. That leaves him just as exposed, given the scale of need, as he was without the vaccine, relatively. Every bit counts of course, but New York needs so much more and a lot faster or the curve of cases is going to go up longer and include more of the people that we need on the front lines. Time equals death here.
Governor DeSantis in Florida said they sent about 100,000 to five hospitals. But there's a delay as shipments for the next two weeks are, quote, “on hold right now.” Two issues. One, why did they get so many more than New York, is it true, that they did? Because the numbers seem to suggest it. Is that the answer?
DeSantis says, well this is about Pfizer and their production issues. Is it? Or, this isn’t about that you-only-need-one-shot BS, that he was trying to pedal, is it? Did they get the doses they need? Should they?
This all demands answers in real time because otherwise problems will fall on top of one another. Because what you give one state that they were not supposed to get will fall down the line and there will be shortfalls.
(…)
