Cuomo Warns Covid-19 Mutation a ‘Game Changer’ After New York Sees First Infection, Could ‘Overtake’ Original Covid Within Weeks

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) warned Tuesday that a new mutation of Covid-19 could be a “game changer” after New York’s first case emerged in a Saratoga Springs resident who had no recent travel history.

“The numbers are frightening on the increase of the transmittal of the virus,” said at a press conference in Albany. “Even if the lethality doesn’t go up, the fact that it is so much more transmittable is a very real problem. And, look, we are in a footrace right now between the vaccine implementation versus the infection rate and hospitalization capacity. That’s the footrace.”

Experts peg the strain, known as B.1.1.7 or VUI-202012/01, as up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original version of Covid-19. The variant was first discovered in the United Kingdom, but has since been found in more than 40 countries. The first case in the United States was found in California on Dec. 30.

Cuomo said the strain could become more dominant than the original version in a “matter of weeks.” He also blamed federal officials including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield for failing to shut travel down for visitors from the U.K., and doubled down on his long-standing assertion that the original version originated in that country.

“There’s a second strain, and it came from the U.K. again” Cuomo said. “And again, the U.S.A. did absolutely nothing. Secretary Azar, Dr. Redfield, how you can explain tot he American people your lack of action, your negligence, your irresponsibility — 140 countries banned people from the U.K., and you did nothing!

“You know that there are viral strains in other countries now,” Cuomo added. “You know that as a fact. Why wouldn’t you mandate testing? How many times do you have to learn the same lesson over and over? What happened to competent leadership in government?”

Cuomo notably failed to mention Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been among federal health officials who have called for travel to remain open. “Keep an eye on it,” Fauci advised in a December CNN interview. “Don’t overreact to it.”

However, New York’s governor said that if the federal government did not move to block travel or mandate testing for incoming travelers from afflicted regions, he would move to do so in his own state.

“The U.S.A. must act,” Cuomo said. “If the United States won’t act, then New York state will act. But I can’t allow people to fly into this state who we know are coming from countries that have other viral strains.”

Watch above via the New York Governor’s Office.

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