The COVID Lockdown Almost Devastated NYC — Andrew Cuomo Was on the Brink of Ruin

Andrew Cuomo claims he rescued New York City from the COVID-19 crisis. Fact check: He actually brought the Big Apple to its knees and nearly caused its downfall.

New Yorkers enamored with Cuomo’s distasteful, self-aggrandizing rhetoric should remember how he failed us in 2020.

The former governor, now seeking a mayoral position, is rightly criticized for relocating 15,000 COVID patients from hospitals into nursing homes, leading to unnecessary deaths—likely a concession to the hospital industry, which contributed over $1 million to his 2018 re-election campaign.

Another significant Cuomo error still impacts the city’s life and economy: his stubborn, authoritarian, arbitrary, and vengeful lockdowns and restrictions on stores, restaurants, cinemas, Broadway theaters, live concerts, museums, sports arenas, playgrounds, and even zoos—essentially any place where New Yorkers gather in groups larger than two.

Tighter regulations in the city

Some of these rules applied to the rest of the state, but none were as severe as those imposed here, which lingered longer and were enforced more stringently.

Cuomo seemed particularly antagonistic towards us, erroneously asserting that the density of the city made the danger greater than anywhere else. He lamented how difficult it was to stay home and lose track of time, proclaiming it was “for your own good!”

In reality, he was intoxicated with gubernatorial power, indifferent to the needs of the economy, and—most importantly—determined to show former Mayor Bill de Blasio who truly had authority in the city. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t the mayor.

After de Blasio prematurely called for school closures in April 2020, Cuomo held a grudge, viewing it as an attempt to overshadow him with a decision that rightly belonged to him—and he vented his resentment onto the rest of us.

Does Cuomo believe we will forget that indoor dining, essential for our social fabric whether at McDonald’s or Le Bernardin, was prohibited until October 2020—and even then, only allowed at an absurd and impractical 25% capacity, complete with temperature checks and mandatory mask-wearing on the way to the bathroom?

Offices, the backbone of the city’s economy, couldn’t open until June 2020, and only at a 50% capacity. With nearly everything else in Midtown and the Wall Street area shuttered, alongside bizarre mask-and-distancing rules, is it any surprise that employees opted to “work” from home?

The restrictions endured long after Cuomo softened or rescinded similar rules for the rest of the state. I was astonished to see a packed dining room at a steakhouse in Nassau County, just a block from the city line, in early July 2020. Restaurant owners gleefully flouted the 25% rule, confident that their customers’ common sense would prevail over the decrees of the imperious governor.

Cuomo didn’t permit movie theaters in the Big Apple to reopen until late February 2021—four months after the rest of the state—and then only at 25% capacity. Equally absurd, random limitations included just 33% capacity in museums and zoos, the latter of which are not typically known for cramped, virus-prone indoor spaces.

The consequences

It’s true that the virus claimed or contributed to the deaths of 45,218 New York City residents. An unfathomable 801 died on a single tragic day—April 1, 2020.

However, by May, the COVID threat was largely mitigated, becoming almost negligible by fall. The infection rate, which peaked at 60% in early April, plummeted to 1% just two months later. Vaccinations in January 2021 further reduced serious cases and deaths to negligible levels.

Nevertheless, the persistent drumbeat of despair and negativity allowed lockdown-favoring media coverage, particularly from The New York Times, which continually warned, “The virus is not finished with us.”

Cuomo’s deliberate exaggeration of risk supported the teachers’ unions’ push for school closures, depriving a generation of mostly underprivileged children of a proper education for an entire year.

Deserted streets and subways became havens for criminals and mentally ill “homeless” individuals. The “work from home” trend took almost five years to finally reverse. Permanently lost were thousands of shops, eateries, and small businesses that lacked the financial means to survive without income.

They weren’t casualties of COVID but of gubernatorial mandates designed to settle personal scores. We are still bearing the repercussions.