New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio are prolonging the coronavirus shutdown of New York because they are expecting a bailout from the incoming Biden administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress, FOX Business correspondent Charles Gasparino said Monday.
“What’s really horrible about this is the incompetence and kind of the callousness of Gov. Cuomo and Bill de Blasio. I mean, they are really banking on a bailout from Joe Biden and now the Democratic controlled-Senate,” Gasparino told “America’s Newsroom.”
“That bailout, basically, in their view allows them to do stupid things with the economy of New York like keep it closed down for as long as possible,” he added.
NYC CLINIC FRUSTRATED BY CUOMO’S VACCINATION GUIDELINES GETS APPROVAL TO DISTRIBUTE UNUSED DOSES
Gasparino said that prolonging the shutdown with the expectation of a bailout from the federal government “defies real logic.”
“It’s scary because, listen, people want to get back to work,” Gasparino said.
Gasparino said that Cuomo and de Blasio did not have a plan for the vaccine rollout, although it had been projected to be released several months ahead of the coronavirus plaguing the country.
“They’re going to pay an economic price for it and the real economy in New York City is going to suffer well into next year and what they are doing is they are hoping for a bailout. It is really a bizarre situation,” he said.
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A Manhattan health care center that sat on hundreds of doses of the coronavirus vaccine for two weeks has finally gotten approval to distribute the unused doses in a manner compliant with Cuomo’s strict rules.
Callen-Lorde Health Center received 600 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine two weeks ago, as first reported by The New York Times, which was more than the clinic needed. As a result, about half of those doses sat in storage – because the clinic was unsure how they could be used in a way that did not violate state guidance.
A spokesperson for Callen-Lorde told Fox News on Friday that it received approval to begin distributing the doses in a manner compliant with regulations.
“We got the green light this week from the state to begin vaccinating community partners that fit the current criteria and have started to vaccinate those folks,” the spokesperson said. “We are now in conversations with an additional 10 community partners to begin vaccinating their staff next week.”
However, as of Friday the center still had just shy of 300 doses remaining, indicative of the flawed rollout patterns observed in states throughout the U.S. at a time when confirmed virus cases are soaring.
Fox News’ Brittany De Lea contributed to this report.
