'He's just making stuff up': Andrew Cuomo's claim about where COVID-19 'mainly transmits' begs for a fact check

Doug P. | 3:02 PM on October 05, 2020

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo agrees with NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio about targeted school closures and they will begin soon:

JUST IN: All New York City schools located in the nine ZIP codes that have been deemed hot spots for rising COVID-19 cases will be closed, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces. https://t.co/UZ4XGrNjyb

— ABC News (@ABC) October 5, 2020

BREAKING: Gov Cuomo orders NYC schools closed tomorrow in 9 hot spot zip codes – one day ahead of NYC Mayor's plan #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/4OEpcn54kZ

— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) October 5, 2020

Cuomo also gave the reason he’s doing so, and it included a claim about where the virus mainly transmits — schools and religious gatherings:

"Where does the virus mainly transmit? – Schools. It's a place where many different communities come together. Schools can be locations of transmission. Religious gatherings especially in some of these communities," – @NYGovCuomo

— Gloria Pazmino (@GloriaPazmino) October 5, 2020

First off, the governor seems to have changed his mind:

In April, @NYGovCuomo said "Nursing homes are the single biggest fear in all of this. Vulnerable people in one place — it is the feeding frenzy for this virus…"

Now he says schools and religious gatherings.https://t.co/6shiT58gcW https://t.co/cJHvJiozBE

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) October 5, 2020

People would also like to see some fact checks on Cuomo’s claim:

What? https://t.co/Un2V50P1DS

— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) October 5, 2020

There is a lot of contradictory evidence on this, but plenty of positive indications that this is not true. This is not the kind of statement that should go unchallenged unless the press is inclined to disregard its own reporting.

— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) October 5, 2020