A week after a Health and Human Services Department watchdog uncovered “severe” shortages of personal protective equipment, the governor of the state hit hardest by the coronavirus showcased a 10-foot-tall sculpture of homemade masks sent to his office.
During his Wednesday press conference addressing the pandemic, New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled the sculpture, which he called “a self-portrait of America.”
“I’m going to show you a self-portrait that was done by American people,” he said. “This is a self-portrait of America, OK? That’s a self-portrait of America, and you know what it spells? It spells love. That’s what it spells. You have to look carefully, but that’s what the American people are saying.”
Cuomo said his office received “thousands of masks” from people who wanted to show their support for New Yorkers in the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
“A little bit more of this and a little bit less of the partisanship and the ugliness, and this country would be a better place,” he added.
The masks, which were mostly made of cloth, are not medical-grade equipment and would not be effective in a hospital scenario. However, spectators online pointed out the spectacle comes at a time when residents are required to wear face coverings in public.
“Instead of distributing them to New Yorkers you nailed them to a wall,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Why take these donations and turn them into mask art?” asked another.
According to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, more than 17,000 people have died from the coronavirus in New York City since the outbreak began in early March.
