In New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo asserts himself as a real boss

Its press conferences are now a daily meeting. He reassures, explains, objurgates in the crisis due to the Covid-19 epidemic. His advice is followed with attention. No, it’s not about Donald Trump and his endless White House lectures, but New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.

From the state capital, Albany, 250 kilometers north of Manhattan, this 62-year-old Democrat acts as the father of New Yorkers. Closure of schools against the advice of the mayor of Big Apple, urgent orders for artificial respirators for hospitals, ban on gatherings of more than fifty people, suspension of evictions and postponement of mortgage deadlines: the real boss, it ‘s is he, as in all American states in a major crisis.

We see it in New York State, 20 million inhabitants and epicenter of the epidemic due to the coronavirus, with 15,168 cases and 114 deaths. Since Sunday evening March 22, all non-essential activities have been banned, but Mr. Cuomo, governor of the state since 2011, has given up confining New Yorkers by putting them “in shelters”. « Shelter », this word had been suggested by the impetuous mayor, Bill de Blasio: it is used when there is a killer in the streets and, formerly, in the event of atomic alert. Too alarmist for Mr. Cuomo, who prefers pedagogy and persuasion.

To this end, the governor arrived, Thursday, March 19, at a press conference flanked by his daughter Michaela, aged 22. Objective, to convince millennials, during this spring break period, to stop doing anything: convinced that the disease caused by the coronavirus is benign for them, they party in Florida, a favorite destination for New Yorkers, spreading the virus. “My daughter, you know, she is everything to me”, Mr Cuomo said, explaining his dismay, this inability to get the message across to younger people, unlike his daughter, who canceled her vacation: “Fortunately, she made the right decision and I’m proud of her. “

Bittersweet discussions between the governor and Donald Trump

Politics is a bit of a family affair. Catholic Andrew Cuomo is the eldest son of Mario Cuomo (1932-2015), the son of Italian grocers born in Queens and who became Democratic Governor of New York between 1983 and 1994. Andrew was his political advisor in the early 1980s before moving to become Bill Clinton’s housing secretary in the late 1990s.

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