(Tea Party 247) – The massive spread of the coronavirus has turned the entire world upside down and has left destruction wherever it has landed. Not just with a person’s physical health, but with the health of the economy as well, putting tons of people out of work due to illness, quarantine, and self-isolation measures meant to flatten the curve of infection and prevent overload at the hospital.
Liberals have been using this particular outbreak as a political weapon against President Trump, ripping him apart for his response to the pandemic, stating he’s not been adequately prepared. However, it seems the real individual who ought to be getting raked over the coals is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Here’s why.
Via Gateway Pundit:
It has also been reported a ventilator lottery would be an option in a pandemic crisis. Now with the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus overwhelming New York hospitals, Cuomo is begging for ventilators.Life comes at you fast, as the saying goes, or as the case may be in this era of a viral pandemic, death comes at you fast. Sadly it is the latter for the citizens of New York who will pay the price for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) 2015 decision to not fix a shortfall and buy the recommended 16,000 ventilators to shore up the state’s stockpile in case of a pandemic. Cuomo spent more money than the cost of the ventilators on a solar panel boondoggle, reports former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey (R) in a syndicated column published this past week. McCaughey reports the Cuomo administration decided instead to establish “triage officers” to decide in a crisis who would get a ventilator and who would be left to die.
So Cuomo had an opportunity to ensure the state of New York had supplies that would have helped prevent the spread of a disease like the coronavirus and didn’t take it. Where is all of the criticism of this poorly made decision? Why aren’t leftist news media folk tearing him a new one over this?
Is this once again a case of being on the “correct side” of a political ideology earning someone a free pass? More than likely.
That task force came up with rules that will be imposed when ventilators run short. Patients assigned a red code will have the highest access, and other patients will be assigned green, yellow or blue (the worst) depending on a “triage officer’s” decision. In truth, a death officer. Let’s not sugarcoat it. It won’t be up to your own doctor.NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo gestures toward a hospital ventilator during an interview with CNN New Day co-host Alisyn Camerota, March 19, screen image.…After learning that the state’s stockpile of medical equipment had 16,000 fewer ventilators than New Yorkers would need in a severe pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to a fork in the road in 2015. He could have chosen to buy more ventilators. Instead, he asked his health commissioner, Howard Zucker to assemble a task force and draft rules for rationing the ventilators they already had.
Cuomo could have purchased the additional 16,000 needed ventilators for $36,000 apiece or a total of $576 million in 2015. It’s a lot of money but less than the $750 million he threw away on a boondoggle “Buffalo Billion” solar panel factory. When it comes to state budget priorities, spending half a percent of the budget on ventilators is a no brainer.Now the pandemic is actually here. Cuomo’s grim reaper rules will be applied. New York City’s deputy commissioner for disease control Demetre Daskalakis is anticipating “some very serious difficult decisions.” So far, in New York City, 1 out of every 4 people with a confirmed case has been hospitalized, and 44% of them have needed a ventilator.The task force claimed there was no point in buying ventilators because there’s also a shortage of doctors and nurses trained to use them. Five years ago, that problem could have been fixed, too. Even now, the National Disaster Medical System can send staff to hot spots like New York…
Just before the virus started tearing up New York, the NY Times reported on Februrary 27 about a shortage of ventilators and the rationing plan that included a lottery.
This is what Cuomo’s bad decision resulted in, ladies and gentlemen:
Across New York, there were 7,241 ventilators in acute care settings, and another 1,750 stockpiled for use in an emergency, according to a 2015 state report. The report noted that the supply of ventilators would be inadequate for a pandemic on the scale of the 1918 flu outbreak.The task force that issued the report devised a formula, relying partially on medical criteria, to help hospitals decide who would get ventilators and who would not. It also envisioned a lottery system in some instances. And age could play a role, with children being given preference over adults.
As if that’s not enough to enrage you, check out his comments concerning how many ventilators the state will need to combat the spread of the virus via an appearance he made on CNN March 19:
Cuomo: “That’s the war time mentality. You can’t buy a ventilator right now. Globally, you can’t buy them. We’re going to have to make them or make something like them. And that’s why the federal government is stepping up and ordering the manufacturers to now come together and make this happen is going to be imperative.”
“That’s the war time mentality,” @NYGovCuomo says on Trump invoking the Defense Production Act to expand production of hospital masks and more amid coronavirus.
The need for the federal government to step up and order manufacturers to make this happen is “imperative,” he adds.
29 people are talking about this
Just this past Friday Cuomo, speaking to reporters, said, “It’s ventilators, ventilators, ventilators. That is the greatest need.”
Seriously?
This man had the opportunity to ensure his state was stockpiled and prepared for just such an emergency and screwed the pooch. He needs to be held accountable for his failure, but the media is too busy aiming all of their energy at President Trump.
Cuomo will likely get a pass from the mainstream media and that’s tragic.
Source: thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/ny-gov-cuomo-rejected-buying-recommended-16000-ventilators-in-2015-for-pandemic-established-death-panels-and-lottery-instead/
after the last H1N1. He did not replenish the stocks so he needs to shut his mouth about shortages.
It appears that Cuomo in a bit short in the competence area as well as his minions. Sadly, that is the
Democrats for you. They screw up everything they touch and then they try to blame someone else.
Obviously that trait is alive and well in the party. To hear the Democrats tell it, they can do no wrong.
They are the shining saviors of the world, Yea, right. The only thing the Democrats care about saving
is their own a** after they have fouled up everything else. Pelosi and Schumer have really brought out
the anger in me.
And he shud have the guts to admit his error!