‘One big pile of s**t’: NY Gov. Cuomo’s ‘Covid-19 mountain’ arts & crafts moment fails to impress

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo showed off a bizarre visual aid representing the “mountain” New Yorkers had “climbed” to “turn the curve” of Covid-19 as he attempted to justify slowing the state’s reopening. It didn’t quite work.

Cuomo unveiled a massive three-dimensional representation of the “coronavirus curve” the state had endured over the preceding months during a press conference on Monday, perhaps hoping to dazzle the assembled reporters with the skills of the artists he’d clearly paid handsomely to design the giant green “mountain.”

The model – so large the governor needed an assistant to completely unwrap it – plotted out New York’s outbreak in faithful statistical detail. Clearly proud of the sprawling green monstrosity, Cuomo described its curves in loving detail to the audience, pointing out the inflection point at day 42 when cases peaked – and the long, slow decline that followed.

“We don’t want to climb this mountain again,” he intoned, twice. While New York has not experienced the post-lockdown case spike seen in some states, Cuomo has nevertheless hinted he will slow or pause “Phase Three” reopening in New York City, which remains by far the deadliest hotspot of the pandemic even as hospitalizations and active cases have dropped precipitously. 

Why Cuomo – already under fire for the now-infamous nursing home directive that forced elder care facilities to admit coronavirus-positive patients and may have caused over 5,000 deaths – would want to remind New Yorkers of the casualty count he presided over with a giant model that clearly required a team of specialists to move is another question, one which many on social media weren’t shy about asking.

Others just called it like they saw it.

Some noted that for a guy who prides himself on his design skills – as Cuomo clearly does – he seemed to have fallen on hard times.

And others wondered how – when New York is still facing huge budget shortfalls, made worse by the pandemic, there was nevertheless money in the kitty for Boss’ Covid-19 Mountain.

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