CNN anchor Chris Cuomo received another round of backlash on Tuesday over his repeated attacks on Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Cuomo has raised eyebrows over the past several months, from his hostile confrontation with a cyclist while breaking quarantine amid his recovery from the coronavirus to the series of softball interviews he conducted with his brother, Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
On Monday, the "Cuomo Prime Time" questioned the legitimacy of recent data from the sunshine state, which signaled an improvement in new COVID-19 cases.
"Can we trust the data from florida’s governor?" Cuomo asked on Twitter
The next day, however, Cuomo was a bit blunter with his criticism towards DeSantis in response to the praise he received from Vice President Mike Pence, who commended the governor's "strong and steady leadership."
"Head of task force praising gov who mishandled pandemic," the CNN anchor reacted.
Cuomo was blasted on social media for what critics suggest is a double standard between his judgment of DeSantis versus his brother's handling of the outbreak in New York.
"If you think that's bad, you should hear how the media is praising Governor Cuomo who implemented the worst coronavirus policy in the world to disastrous effect," Daily Caller opinion contributor Eddie Zipperer told the anchor.
"Lately I've been wondering if these people are just shamelessly dishonest or if they've fooled themselves into believing this stuff," David Harsanyi, National Review senior writer, tweeted.
"NY Deaths: 32,708, FL Deaths: 5,933," Reagon Battalion pointed out.
"You are one of the most unethical media people in America," Noam Blum, Tablet Magazine associate editor, declared.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If you think that's bad, you should hear how the media is praising Governor Cuomo who implemented the worst coronavirus policy in the world to disastrous effect. <a href="https://t.co/AUxfoq1o19">https://t.co/AUxfoq1o19</a></p>— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) <a href="https://twitter.com/EddieZipperer/status/1288087234344898565?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NY Deaths: 32,708<br>FL Deaths: 5,933 <a href="https://t.co/TMQnKn9khE">https://t.co/TMQnKn9khE</a></p>— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReaganBattalion/status/1287976412981469186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Through much of the coronavirus outbreak, there has been growing scrutiny over Gov. Cuomo's order in late March that forced nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for coronavirus, despite testing deficiencies for both residents and staff. Cuomo signed an executive order on May 11 reversing the policy, stopping hospitals from sending infected patients back to nursing homes and ramping up testing for staff.
As of last month, roughly 7,900 people have either been confirmed or presumed dead from COVID-19 in nursing homes in New York, according to the state's health department. That equates to approximately 25 percent of all deaths in the state have occurred in nursing homes, per the latest state total from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that “New York hospitals released more than 6,300 recovering coronavirus patients into nursing homes during the height” of the coronavirus pandemic under a “controversial, now-scrapped policy.”
