The wheels are starting to come off as the city of New York continues to fall apart. The New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot has decided to resign due to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s poor management of the city.
“I leave my post today with deep disappointment that during the most critical public health crisis in our lifetime, that the Health Department’s incomparable disease control expertise was not used to the degree it could have been,” Barbot wrote in her resignation email, a copy of which was shared to TheNYT.
Her decision to leave is two months after the mayor decided to put the public hospitals in charge of contact tracing and not the city’s health department.
Barbot was furious and said, “Our experts are world renowned for their epidemiology, surveillance and response work. The city would be well served by having them at the strategic center of the response not in the background.”
Initially, Mayor Bill de Blasio downplayed the virus, on March 3rd de Blasio told New Yorkers to go on with their lives and to “get out on the town despite Coronavirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions. Here’s the first: thru Thurs 3/5 go see “The Traitor”
@FilmLinc. If “The Wire” was a true story + set in Italy, it would be this film.
Since I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions. Here’s the first: thru Thurs 3/5 go see “The Traitor” @FilmLinc. If “The Wire” was a true story + set in Italy, it would be this film.
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) March 3, 2020
That post obviously didn’t age well as the city was the epicenter for the pandemic.
Barbot was no innocent victim either, during the height of the outbreak in New York City she purposely withheld PPE from the NYPD. A contact from the NYPD ended up contact the White House and was able to get PPE.
