Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar is blasting New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of travel restrictions, calling it “ignorant demagoguery.”
In an interview on Sinclair Broadcasting’s “America This Week,” Azar said Cuomo said the virus already has thousands of mutations.
“It’s continued ignorant demagoguery up there,” he said of Cuomo’s criticism. “He’s talking about this mutation of this virus… it does not appear from the data to be a more severe strain.”
“You’re not going to stop the spread… these viruses are going to spread… we’ve seen almost 4,000 mutations,” he added. “You couldn’t find the original Chinese mutation in the United States — that’s how much it’s changed."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday at least 52 cases of the new COVID-19 strain had been found in the U.S.
California had at least 26 cases of the variant first discovered last month in the United Kingdom.
Florida (22 cases), Colorado (two), Georgia (one) and New York (one) were other states in which the new strain had been found.
Cuomo is expanding the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility requirements to include 3 million more people after pushback from Mayor Bill de Blasio and other local officials and reports of doses tossed out. The group will include people over the age of 75, firefighters, police officers, teachers, bus drivers, train operators and other frontline MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] staff.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.