De Blasio: Cuomo eased COVID-19 rules to do 'anything he could to get anyone to like him'
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday doubled down on his claim that Gov. Andrew Cuomo eased a number of COVID-19-related restrictions for political reasons, maintaining the lawmaker was doing "anything he could do to get anyone to like him."
In an interview Friday morning, WNYC's Brian Lehrer asked the mayor about Cuomo's decision to raise the state's caps on gatherings, eliminate its quarantine requirement for domestic travelers and allow indoor fitness classes to resume, among other guideline changes.
"You've accused Gov. Cuomo of going on a tear of reopening announcements to — tell me if this is a fair characterization of your accusation — to make people feel good about him, just as his scandals are swirling, more indoor dining, larger indoor gatherings, fitness classes, even though they're usually more tightly crowded than gyms, all these things in recent days," Lehrer said.
"My question for you is, Cuomo may be many things, but do you really think he would play that fast and loose with people's health and people's lives?"
"Well, he clearly did that with the nursing homes," de Blasio responded. "I mean, you did characterize my remarks effectively, and I appreciate that, Brian."
"I mean, our health care leadership said, 'Do not open up these fitness classes.' These are doctors who have spent their whole life in public health, trying to save people's lives," he said.
"The governor took back the power for us to decide and did it," he added. "And I think for very political reasons, just to — anything he could do to get anyone to like him."
"And I think it's dangerous, and this is why we need local control, because I'm listening to health care leaders. We all know he doesn't listen to his health care leaders," he went on to say. "I'm listening to the health care leaders and they say that was a real dangerous decision."
At a news briefing on Thursday, de Blasio accused the Cuomo administration of making COVID-19-related decisions "without consulting the city of New York or our health experts."
Cuomo is currently facing allegations of sexual harassment lodged against him by seven women, as well as a probe into his administration's reporting of COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes.
