New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo reacts after a press briefing in Albany of New York State, the United States, May 15, 2020. (Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo/Handout via Xinhua)
"Lying to the public about it is not a national pandemic response strategy," says the governor.
NEW YORK, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed more than 220,000 lives nationwide.
Almost "221,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. Lying to the public about it is not a national pandemic response strategy," the governor tweeted.
In his tweet, Cuomo attached the CNN article "'It's going to disappear': A timeline of Trump's claims that COVID-19 will vanish."
The article quoted Trump as saying on July 1 this year "And I think we are going to be very good with the coronavirus. I think that, at some point, that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope."
A screengrab from live streaming on the web shows U.S. President Donald Trump pulling off his mask on the White House balcony, Washington, D.C., on Oct. 5, 2020, upon his return from a military hospital in Maryland where he was treated for coronavirus. (Xinhua)
On Monday, Cuomo told the press that the federal government didn't live up to its obligation during the fight against COVID-19, for only one-third of the Americans had been tested in the past seven months as the pandemic raged on.
On Sunday, the National Governors Association (NGA) sent a list of questions to the Trump Administration seeking clarification on how the federal government would most effectively distribute and administer a COVID-19 vaccine. Cuomo is chair of the NGA.
The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University reported 220,806 coronavirus deaths in the United States as of Tuesday afternoon, the worst among all the countries in the world. ■
