Andrew Cuomo picked a portentous day to launch his New York City mayoral campaign. Sunday was the fifth anniversary of his announcement, as governor, of the city’s first confirmed case of Covid-19.

The virus had already shut down Wuhan, China, and brought Northern Italy to a standstill. Yet on March 2, 2020, in going public with a positive result from the day before, Gov. Cuomo made an early mistake: underestimating the threat.

“We think we have the best healthcare system on the planet right here in New York,” he said, standing beside Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We don’t even think it’s going to be as bad as it was in other countries.”

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About the Author

Bill Hammond

As the Empire Center’s senior fellow for health policy, Bill Hammond tracks fast-moving developments in New York’s massive health care industry, with a focus on how decisions made in Albany and Washington affect the well-being of patients, providers, taxpayers and the state’s economy.

Read more by Bill Hammond

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