While coronavirus ravages New York – with officials desperately clamoring for life-saving supplies and federal assistance – attention has also turned to years of fiscal mismanagement and cost-cutting, despite it being one of the highest-taxed states in the country.
Since the outbreak gained a foothold in the United States earlier this year – and quickly spawned across New York, a state of 19.5 million people – Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has appealed for support. He has also criticized the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic.
But critics contend Cuomo also needs to look closer to home.
"Although the public is only now becoming aware of the problem, emergency room shortages have long plagued the state's healthcare system. In addition, New York bypassed an opportunity five years ago to purchase 16,000 ventilators at a total cost of under $600 million," Joel Griffith, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Fox News.
"This sum represented just 0.4 percent of the 2015-2016 enacted budgetvc— a year in which more than $2.3 billion was set aside for 'economic development,' an amorphous category riddled with cronyism. This potential shortage was both avoidable and warned about," he said.
The governor, who has held the top job since 2011, has said that the state needs at least 30,000 ventilators – and an extra 50,000 hospital beds – to brace for the pinnacle of the storm in the coming weeks. As it stands, New York is currently the global epicenter of coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. The state has had more than 84,000 confirmed cases, some 2,000 deaths, and over 12,000 hospitalizations – more than a quarter in the intensive care unit – and the ominous numbers are rising by the minute.
Manny Alicandro, a New York-based attorney who specializes in policy and politics, also noted that New York started the fiscal year facing a $6 billion budget gap, the worst since 2011 — and much of the state and city officials have been mostly "distracted with social issues such as banning plastic bags, bail reform and failed alternative energy policies."
"It is sad that after 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, New York state and New York City remained so unprepared to deal with any crisis, especially something like the coronavirus," he continued.
And Alexandra Abrams, of the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), emphasized that while no one was fully prepared for the sudden and swift onset of the virus, "New York had ignored requests from Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to be ready for a serious problem before it occurred."
"He had been asking the state for years to put in place better safeguards and create a reserve fund. The Pew Foundation reported that in the fiscal year 2019, the state had a reserve fund that could help for 26.1 days, which is two weeks lower than the national median," she said. "Comptroller DiNapoli projected that tax collections could miss the target amount by up to $7 billion."
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what a blowhard. he probably has ventilators stashed away and is trying to make the pres lk bad. it ain't workin. Pres Trump is not God he cannot waive his hand and make this end this is CHINAS fault and Cuomo who is not a physician, needs to stop fear mongering.
He does have ventilators that he has had in storage. .. but he wants more..