New York’s increasingly overexposed Governor Andrew Cuomo today confused and angered China-hawks by referring to COVID-19 as a “European virus”.

Speaking at his daily press conference, Gov. Cuomo bizarrely declared: “Yes we have more cases than anyone else. Yes we had this European virus attack us and nobody expected it. But we’re not only going to change our trajectory, we’re going to change the trajectory more dramatically than any place else in the nation.”

https://twitter.com/RaheemKassam/status/1259922387451215872

It’s true. Cuomo did help to change the trajectory of the virus more dramatically than anywhere else in the United States: upward.

Cuomo’s work in forcing nursing homes to take in coronavirus patients no doubt led to needless deaths.

Regardless, his stance in calling it the “European virus” will confound even the most neutral of observers.

The coronavirus – otherwise known as the ‘China virus’, or ‘CCP virus’ – emerged from Wuhan, in the Hubei province of China.

It did not emerge in Europe.

Despite these clear facts, it’s hard to see a situation where journalists would demand Cuomo stop using such evidently fake claims, as they did when President Trump made the correct claim that the virus came from China and should therefore be called the Chinese virus.

Responding on Twitter, Republican National Convention spokeswomen Elizabeth Harrington declared of Cuomo’s misnomer: “And this victory lap Democrat Gov. Cuomo is doing is odd given the reporting last week that 65% of the outbreaks across the country came from New York And after he waited months to stop sending Covid patients into nursing homes.”

"European virus"?

And this victory lap Democrat Gov. Cuomo is doing is odd given the reporting last week that 65% of the outbreaks across the country came from New York

And after he waited months to stop sending Covid patients into nursing homespic.twitter.com/JPEPIOPQ6r

— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) May 11, 2020

No doubt Cuomo will hide behind messaging behind promoted by his office for weeks: that most of New York’s cases can be traced back to travelers entering the city from Europe.

Still, that doesn’t make it a European virus. No more so than a layover in Detroit makes someone flying LHR-LAX a Michigander.

The virus came from China. Maybe even from a lab. Which is what the media should really be investigating.

Don’t expect them to pick up on this anytime soon, though.

They’re still trying to figure out how they can lie about Secretary of State Pompeo and get away with it.