A former top state Health Department infectious disease expert testified that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office barred the agency from working closely with the New York City Health Department and other county public health officials during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Dr. Elizabeth Dufort, the former medical director of the state DOH’s office of epidemiology who personally administered Cuomo’s first COVID-19 swab test last year, made the bombshell claim during questioning by lawyers hired by state Attorney General Letitia James who investigated sexual harassment and other allegations leveled against the ex-governor.
“We were not allowed to collaborate with our peers in the local health departments
and New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene which is a critical component in an outbreak response to collaborate with different facets of public health,” Dufort, identified as state employee #2, said in more than 200 pages of witness testimony.
She noted that it’s the local health officials who implement policies, particularly during a pandemic.
“So generally, so not being able to collaborate with them in the way we normally would really hindered our ability to perform our jobs we felt,” Dufort said.
Read more at NY Post.
{Matzav.com}
Yet another indication that Hashem was sending a message here, not just a random pandemic.
It makes no sense that this rasha would have prevented his people from working with their local counter-parts, nor does his admittedly arbitrary “red zones” make any sense, other than to be a full-fledged rasha.
Since lev milachim viSarim biYad Hashem, this was clearly a message from Hashem.