Trump says New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus policies ‘killed thousands and thousands of people’

President and governor traded barbs about their handling of the pandemic on Monday

Harriet Alexander

Monday 19 October 2020 23:30 BST

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Donald Trump has accused the governor of New York of having “killed thousands and thousands of people” by not taking coronavirus seriously, attacking the Democrat politician at a rally in Arizona on Monday.

The president, 74, and the governor, 62 - both born in the New York borough of Queens - have been at loggerheads throughout the pandemic, with each blaming the other for the scale of the crisis.

Mr Cuomo accused the president in the early days of the pandemic of not doing enough to organise supplies of personal protective equipment.

Mr Trump, in response, accused the governor of shirking his responsibilities.

On Monday the president ratcheted up his criticism during a rally in Arizona, accusing the governor of being behind the deaths of thousands of people in his state.

Earlier on Monday Mr Trump tweeted his disdain for the governor, who has just published a book on leadership during the pandemic.“Governor Cuomo has shown tremendously poor leadership skills in running N.Y,” the president said.

"Bad time for him to be writing and promoting a book, especially since he has done such a poor job with Covid and Crime. So many unnecessary deaths.

“The City & State have sunk to historic lows ....Washington wants nothing to do with him, and that’s so bad for New York, which has become a ghost town. “Andrew spends too much time listening to his brother, Fredo. Forget the books and your apology tour. The Federal Government would love to help New York regain its luster!”

The governor replied: "C'mon Donald—you didn't read my book, everyone knows you don't read. There are lessons to learn & you still haven't. With 8.2M+ Americans infected, you are the #1 super-spreader. "Enjoy life in FL (POS rate 12%) in 2 weeks; NY (POS rate 1.1%) won't miss you. “PS- Wear a mask.”

New York in early April saw over 1,000 deaths a day, and was the global epicentre of the virus.

There have been 489,000 cases confirmed in the state and almost 33,000 deaths.

New York’s death toll is the highest in the nation, but California, Texas and Florida now have a higher total of confirmed cases.

Mr Cuomo has been strongly criticised for his decision to send 6,326 Covid-positive residents back to nursing homes - a decision which many say contributed to the 6,500 deaths in care facilities.

He insists that he was simply following CDC guidance at the time, and reversed the order when the dangers became apparent.

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