New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Trump administration 'surrendered' to the coronavirus pandemic

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Trump administration 'surrendered' to the coronavirus pandemic
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.Jeenah Moon/Getty Images
  • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticized officials in President Donald Trump's administration for their "surrender" to the coronavirus.
  • White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" the US won't "control the pandemic."
  • "Americans don't surrender, and they didn't even put up a fight," Cuomo told reporters Sunday in response to Meadows' comment, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.
  • New York, like many states in the US, is seeing a rise in new coronavirus cases. In October, coronavirus hospitalizations went up by 97% since September 1.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed President Donald Trump's administration for their "surrender" to the coronavirus.

Cuomo was reacting to comments by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, where he said the US would stop trying to "control" the coronavirus.

"We are not going to control the pandemic," he said. "We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigation areas."

When host Jake Tapper asked why the country isn't going to control the coronavirus, Meadows said because it "is a contagious virus, just like the flu."

Cuomo responded to Meadows's remarks in a call with reporters later that day, where he criticized the administration for their "preemptive capitulation," according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

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"They capitulated. They surrendered. They surrendered without firing a shot," Cuomo said, according to the Democrat and Chronicle. "It was the great American surrender. Americans don't surrender, and they didn't even put up a fight."

Throughout the pandemic, Cuomo has repeatedly criticized Trump for downplaying and politicizing how the US responds to the coronavirus pandemic. After clashing with the president over the initial handling of the coronavirus pandemic in March, Cuomo said he would not "engage in politics" in the pandemic because it is "anti-American."

"Forget the politics," he said. "We have a national crisis. We are at war. There is no politics. There is red, white, and blue."

Cuomo's latest criticism came as New York, like many states in the US, marked a rise in coronavirus cases. This month, coronavirus hospitalizations in the state went up by 97% since September 1.

Insider's Ashley Collman previously reported Cuomo blamed the rise on "red zone" areas, or clusters, throughout the state that authorities are monitoring.

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New York has recorded over 490,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus to date, according to Johns Hopkins University. The US has counted more than 8.63 million cases in total, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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