Cuomo Considers Writing Book About Coronavirus Pandemic

Cuomo
Photo credit Spencer Platt/Getty Images

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering writing a book about the lessons he learned during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Other states have looked to how Cuomo has handled New York's response to the crisis, through the 42 days it took to reach the peak before coming back down "the other side of the mountain" — a phrase the governor has often used to describe the state's battle with the virus.

"Whatever happens this is going to be a period to learn from," Cuomo told WAMC's Dr. Alan Chartock in an interview on Friday afternoon. "I am now thinking about writing a book about what we went through, lessons learned, the entire experience, because if we don't learn from this, then it will really compound the whole crisis that we've gone through."

Cuomo noted that New York is now in a "bit of a lull," while other states across the country are seeing a spike in positive cases.

"Our numbers are good, we work very hard to keep them there. You have other parts of the country that are just going through what we went through a few months ago. It's a cruel tragedy that this nation learned nothing from what we did — all the lives lost, all the money spent," Cuomo said. "There's nothing that they're going through that we didn't go through three or four months ago. And that this federal government allowed this to happen is going to go down in the history books as one of the great blunders of government."

During New York's fight with the virus, Cuomo emerged as one of the key faces of the pandemic as he held daily press briefings for 111 consecutive days, updating the public on the spread of the virus and what measures were being taken to flatten the curve. 

His handling of the situation raised his approval rating at one point to 87%.

The governor has come under criticism over the state's high death toll in nursing homes and a state policy that had required nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients. 

This week, the state's health department released a report that claimed the large number of nursing home deaths from COVID-19 was not the fault of state policy, but staff who unknowingly infected residents.

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