Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said during a Friday press conference that people should “never get cocky with COVID.”
“Never get cocky with COVID. Truer words were never spoken,” the governor said. “I’ll take credit for that quote. Never get cocky with COVID.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY): “Never get cocky with COVID.” pic.twitter.com/zUtRrSro72
— The Recount (@therecount) January 22, 2021
Twitter users pointed out that Cuomo had written a book about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (RELATED: Cuomo Restricts Home Gatherings To 10 People As New York Records Largest One Day Increase Of COVID Cases Since April)
“I think I read that in his book celebrating his handling of COVID,” The Recount editor-in-chief said on Twitter.
I think I read that in his book celebrating his handling of COVID
— Slade (@Slade) January 22, 2021
The governor’s book, titled “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” was released in October shortly before the presidential election.
“In his own voice, Andrew Cuomo chronicles in ‘American Crisis’ the ingenuity and sacrifice required of so many to fight the pandemic, sharing his personal reflections and the decision-making that shaped his policy, and offers his frank accounting and assessment of his interactions with the federal government and the White House, as well as other state and local political and health officials,” the book’s publisher, Crown Publishing, said according to the Associated Press.
New York was one of the states hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo implemented some of the strictest lockdown measures in the country to try and contain the virus, and has only recently talked about the importance of re-opening.
Supporters of the governor have praised his COVID response, but critics have taken issue with an executive order Cuomo signed early in the pandemic that forced nursing homes to take in patients who tested positive for coronavirus and have pointed to the thousands of businesses that were forced to close their doors as a result of the strict lockdowns.