A Fox News meteorologist whose elderly in-laws died from COVID-19 has blasted Governor Cuomo for releasing a book praising his...
A Fox News meteorologist whose elderly in-laws died from COVID-19 has blasted Governor Cuomo for releasing a book praising his own leadership efforts amid the pandemic, in an interview
Senior weather forecaster Janice Dean accused Cuomo of being responsible for her husband's parents' deaths in March after they contracted the virus at two separate nursing homes in New York.
Cuomo, who was praised by some for his briefings in the early days of the pandemic, has also been criticized heavily for some of his policies that led to a high number of deaths at aged care facilities.
Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean, whose elderly in-laws died from the virus after contracting the disease at New York nursing homes, blasted Cuomo in an interview with DailyMailTV
Dean's mother-in-law Dolores Newman (pictured) died a few days after she tested positive at nursing home earlier this year. Dean later learned Cuomo had signed an executive order to move positive patients into aged care facilities
Cuomo has recently copped backlash over his new book and for imposing a new round of lockdown measures last week and New York's positivity rate increased to its highest in months
He was further slammed by critics last month after publishing a self-congratulatory book titled, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In an interview with DailyMailTV on Friday, Dean revealed she was outraged to see the governor patting himself on the back as the pandemic rages on.
'I thought to myself, what governor has the time to sit down and write a book when he should be leading in his state that is still losing people every single day during the pandemic?' she said.
Cuomo's book, American Crisis, was published last month
'He should be writing condolence cards instead of writing a book.'
Dean also criticized Cuomo for focusing on his eventual success in flattening the curve of infections instead of questions about his misguided policies during the early days of the outbreak that may have led to more deaths at nursing homes.
'The fact that he isn't asked those questions really is so frustrating and makes our grief worse,' Dean said.
'And the fact that he's going on a book tour, he's still on a book tour for a book about leadership during a pandemic. Again, is really difficult to watch.'
Dean first lost her father-in-law, Michael Newman, in late March just hours after the family received a phone call that he had been feeling unwell.
'We didn't know he had COVID. We only realized he had COVID when we saw the death certificate,' she said.
Dean first lost her father-in-law Michael Newman in late March just hours after the family received a phone call that he had been feeling unwell
Dean also criticized Cuomo for focusing on his eventual success in flattening the curve of infections instead of questions about his misguided policies
A couple days later, her mother-in-law Dolores Newman became sick at another nursing home and was rushed to the hospital. She died a few days after she tested positive.
Dean told DailyMailTV she didn't blame anyone for their deaths initially, until she learned Cuomo had signed an executive order to move COVID-positive patients into age care facilities.
'That's when my back went up a bit because I remember not long before his [her husband's] father died, getting a phone call from his nursing home saying: "We're going to move your father-in-law to a different floor so we can put more patients in", she said.
'Numbers are rising and [Cuomo] continues to go on talk shows and talk about his leadership. He likes to say this is, you know, the halfway point in the game.
'Well, it's not a game to us. We've lost loved ones, over thirty thousand New Yorkers have died in this pandemic,' she added.
The governor's office did not respond to DailyMailTV's requests for comment.
Cuomo has copped backlash in recent weeks over his decision to publish a book lauding his own handling of the crisis and for imposing new strict lockdown measures as the statewide positivity rate increased to 2.9 percent - its highest in months.
Dean last week joined critics on Twitter slamming Cuomo's order.
'What about your book tour about great leadership, flattening the curve and all that awesome success after over 30,000 deaths including thousands in nursing homes?!???!' she tweeted.
Meanwhile, former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind - another vocal Cuomo critic - announced his own book launch Wednesday of 'Lessons in Leadership: King Covidius Cuomo' (above) which mocks the governor as a 'tyrant king'
She also shared a link to Hikind's new spoof book, 'Lessons in Leadership: King Covidius Cuomo' that mocks Cuomo's handling of the pandemic, writing that she will 'buy 10 copies'.
Hikind's book cover shows a cartoon of Cuomo holding a crown on his head and sitting on a throne.
In his book, Cuomo condemned the Trump administration's coronavirus response and praised his own leadership efforts.
Cuomo describes in the book trying to placate President Donald Trump in order to get needed hospital beds, ventilators and other supplies for New York.
He detailed the state's success at rapidly ramping up testing capacity and his worry that New Yorkers wouldn't heed calls to stay at home to help avoid a catastrophic surge in hospitalizations.
Cuomo also addresses a frequent criticism of his leadership style: that he is overly controlling.
'You show me a person who is not controlling, and I'll show you a person who is probably not highly successful,' he wrote.
The book, however, fell short of addressing Cuomo's failings, including the thousands of patient deaths at New York nursing homes.
It's unclear how much of an advance Cuomo received for it.
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