When it comes to anything related to the Wuhan virus and CDC recommendations, Chris Cuomo is one of the last people in this country who should be lecturing others about what they should be doing in order to keep themselves and their families safe, and who should be scolding other journalists for a supposed false framing of a question about health guidelines and contradictory messaging.
As we’ve documented extensively, among other things Cuomo broke quarantine (which is against CDC guidelines) in April 2020 while he had COVID, which was when the virus was doing maximum damage to his fellow New Yorkers. Yet when called out on by an elderly bike rider who saw him sitting outside his East Hampton estate when he had the coronavirus, Cuomo insinuated on his radio program that he’d wanted to beat the guy up and whined about the constraints of being a public figure who had to restrain himself from doing what he really wanted to do in life.
A few months later, Cuomo reportedly got an angry-gram from his building manager demanding he abide by the mask mandate put in place by his authoritarian brother Gov. Andrew Cuomo or face a $500 fine.
With all of that in mind, read what Cuomo had to say below in response to a deceptive “Now This” video clip circulating of Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy and President Biden having a contentious exchange over the administration’s mixed messaging about wearing masks:
The problem: Not only a gotcha question that shows a lack of understanding by the asker but is proof of bad media practice of adding to division by projecting ignorance as animus. This is why the vaccinated are held hostage https://t.co/VWWMs6ITqN
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) July 30, 2021
Before we get to the video clip in question, here’s how their back and forth went down:
As Biden left the podium in the East Room of the White House, Doocy reminded the president that he had said, “if you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask.”
“No I didn’t say that,” Biden responded. “I said if you’re fully vaccinated in an area where you do not have – well, let me clarify that –“
Doocy interrupted to clarify his question: “In May, you made it sound like a vaccine was the ticket to losing the masks forever.”
“That was true at the time!” a visibly agitated president shot back. “Because I thought there were people who were going to understand that getting vaccinated made a gigantic difference. What happened was, a new variant came along, they didn’t get vaccinated, it was spread more rapidly, and more people were getting sick. That’s the difference.”
Watch:
Doocy vs. Biden 🔥
Doocy: You said if you were fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask.
Biden: I didn't say that.
Doocy: You did.(….)
Doocy: In May, you made it sound like the vaccine was the ticket to lose the mask forever.
Biden: That was true at the time. pic.twitter.com/0ITF0GZZqM— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 29, 2021
In the video clip, Biden made it sound like it was people who weren’t vaccinated who were causing a rise in the number of cases without mentioning what the CDC is now acknowledging about spreads that can occur from vaccinated people, too. So how are vaccinated people being “held hostage,” as Cuomo alleged, by unvaccinated people, considering the fact that it’s been established that even fully vaccinated people can catch and spread the Delta variant?
Not only was Doocy’s question not a “gotcha” question, but it wasn’t an “ignorant” one, either. Doocy understood the issue perfectly and essentially got Biden to further muddle the White House’s messaging on mask protocol and why it changed from what they were saying in May to what is being said now, as radiologist and public health policy expert Pradheep J. Shanker noted in response to Cuomo:
This is not a gotcha question. It is a legitimate question about the lack of logical consistency in this administration's policy.
The ignorance is yours, not theirs. https://t.co/4dOJ4ayjkQ
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) July 30, 2021
Either the vaccine works or it doesn’t. If you’re going to tell vaccinated people that they have to wear a mask at this stage of the game, you’re going to contribute to vaccine hesitancy for those still undecided, it’s just that simple.
I predicted yesterday that vaccination rates will fall as a result of the gear-shifting being done by the CDC and the Biden administration about masks. Because at this point – a year and a half into this virus – people are simply fed up at this point and are trying to go about their daily lives the best way they can. Can’t say as I blame them.
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