New York state health officials were told to give special COVID-19 testing access to relatives of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to multiple reports.
The reports published Wednesday evening are the latest additions to the controversies surrounding the Democratic governor, who has also been accused by at least eight women of sexual misconduct and is facing backlash for his handling of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuomo and Health Commissioner Howard Zucker prioritized Cuomo family members and individuals with ties to the governor’s administration for testing in 2020, moving CNN host Chris Cuomo, the governor’s brother; Matilda Cuomo, Cuomo’s mother; Patrick Foye, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and Cotton’s wife to the front of the line, according to the Albany Times Union, which first reported the news.
Dr. Eleanor Adams, a recent graduate of Harvard Medical School and a special adviser to Zucker, conducted testing on Chris Cuomo at his Long Island residence, two sources told the outlet.
“If their job was to go test an old lady down in New Rochelle, that’s one thing. That’s actually good,” a source told the newspaper. “This was not that.”
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Cuomo officials disputed the notion that the governor granted preferential treatment to those in his inner circle.
Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, characterized the allegations of preferential treatment as “insincere efforts to rewrite the past” in an email to the Washington Examiner.
“In the early days of this pandemic, when there was a heavy emphasis on contact tracing, we were absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing — including in some instances going to people’s homes, and door-to-door in places like New Rochelle — to take samples from those believed to have been exposed to COVID in order to identify cases and prevent additional ones,” he said. “Among those we assisted were members of the general public, including legislators, reporters, state workers and their families who feared they had contracted the virus and had the capability to further spread it.”
An administration official told the outlet the matter was becoming “a little bit distorted with, like, a devious intent” because “all of this was being done in good faith in an effort to trace the virus.”
Gary Holmes, a state health department spokesman, declined to comment in an email to the Washington Examiner.
“You’re asking professionals who took an oath to protect a patient’s privacy to violate that oath and compromise their integrity,” he said. “More than 43 million New Yorkers have been tested, and commenting on any of them would be a serious violation of medical ethics. We’ve built a nation-leading testing infrastructure to ensure that anybody who needs a test could get one. That work continues today.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Foye was not given preferential treatment for testing, pointing out in a phone call with the Washington Examiner that he was initially tested after exhibiting symptoms, when results were positive.
“The ‘report’ of preferential treatment is flat out false,” MTA communications director Tim Minton said in an email to the Washington Examiner.
The spokesman added that Foye, who contracted the disease and thus underwent frequent testing thereafter, also waited his turn to be vaccinated, which he then did on television in an effort to encourage others to get the vaccine.
A representative for CNN said Chris Cuomo’s actions were “not surprising” given the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We generally do not get involved in the medical decisions of our employees. However, it is not surprising that in the earliest days of a once-in-a-century global pandemic, when Chris was showing symptoms and was concerned about possible spread, he turned to anyone he could for advice and assistance, as any human being would,” Matt Dornic, head of strategic communications for CNN, said in an email to the Washington Examiner.
Chris Cuomo announced he contracted COVID-19 on March 31 of last year, after which he began broadcasting his CNN program, Cuomo Prime Time, from his home. His wife and son then contracted the virus in April.
Andrew Cuomo has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks as two other scandals threaten his governorship.
The New York Democrat has been accused of sexual harassment by several women, most of whom are former aides to Cuomo. The governor denies he ever engaged in inappropriate touching. The allegations have resulted in two investigations: a state-level investigation by Attorney General Letitia James and an “impeachment investigation” in the New York state Assembly.
The governor is also facing allegations that he underreported the number of nursing home deaths that resulted from COVID-19. Melissa DeRosa, the secretary to the governor, said the administration “froze” after former President Donald Trump began tweeting about the controversy and withheld data out of fear of political retribution.
Cuomo has repeatedly insisted he will not resign because the allegations are false, though he did apologize for making anyone feel uncomfortable.
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The state of New York has reported 1,788,874 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 49,462 deaths were attributed to the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.
Representatives for Harvard Medical School and the Port Authority did not immediately reply to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this article has been updated to reflect new information from the Times Union.
