Cuomo Family Got VIP Coronavirus Testing As Pandemic Hit: Reports

NEW YORK CITY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo's family got priority COVID-19 tests when the pandemic first hit and the public had scant access to testing, according to a pair of reports.

A top state doctor and other health officials personally visited the homes of, among others, the governor's brother Chris Cuomo to conduct the tests, which were processed at a state lab, the Albany Times Union and Washington Post first reported.

Chris Cuomo, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 in late March 2020, wasn't the only member of the governor's family to receive tests, according to the Times Union. Andrew Cuomo's mother and at least one of his sisters also received tests.

The tests were conducted at a time when most New Yorkers had difficulty lining up COVID-19 tests. The Wadsworth laboratory that ran the results could only process several hundred tests a day, and some of its limited slots were taken by VIPs staff referred to as the "specials," the Washington Post reported.

Other well-connected people who received tests include Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority, Cotton's wife and Patrick Foye, who heads the MTA, according to the reports. Other unnamed members of the media, state legislators and their staff also received priority tests, the Post reported.

Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser and frequent spokesperson for the governor, effectively denied accusations of preferential treatment to the Times Union.

"In the early days of this pandemic, when there was a heavy emphasis on contact tracing, we were absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing — including in some instances going to people’s homes, and door-to-door in places like New Rochelle — to take samples from those believed to have been exposed to COVID in order to identify cases and prevent additional ones," Azzopardi told the Times Union. "Among those we assisted were members of the general public, including legislators, reporters, state workers and their families who feared they had contracted the virus and had the capability to further spread it.”

The reports on the priority testing programs come amid a swirl of sexual harassment accusations against Cuomo and ongoing scrutiny over his administration's handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic.

Read the Times Union report here and the Washington Post report here.