Andrew Cuomo ‘frightened’ after brother Chris tests positive for diagnosis
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that he’s “frightened” by the diagnosis of his kid brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo, with the potentially deadly coronavirus.
“No one can be protected from it,” said the governor in an Albany press briefing. “I couldn’t protect my own brother.
“With all he knows and as smart as he is, he couldn’t protect himself. So anyone can get it, and everyone has to be protected.”
The journalist broke the news of his diagnosis Tuesday, and though so far he’s experiencing only “basically a very bad flu” and isn’t in a high-risk category, older brother Andrew said he couldn’t help but fear the worst.
“I understand the data. I understand 80 percent self-resolve,” he said. “[But] It scared me. It frightened me. Why? Because we still don’t know.
“We still don’t know, and even if there’s just a 1 percent, 2 percent chance,” the emotional governor trailed off, apparently referring to the contagion’s mortality rate.
“And it’s frightening because there’s nothing I can do, and I’m out of control, and there’s nobody who tell me … because nobody really knows.”
Just hours after announcing the diagnosis, Chris Cuomo went on with his nightly CNN show, albeit broadcasting from quarantine in the basement of his home.
“What a gutsy, courageous thing to do,” said the governor, adding that he hopes the display can lessen some viewers’ fears of the disease. “That’s why he did the show last night. ‘OK, I have coronavirus. … I didn’t fall over, I didn’t collapse, this is not a death sentence, here I am.’
“Kudos to him. My pop would be proud,” Cuomo added of their late father, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
In an apparent inside joke with his sibling, the governor said he sent Chris the “Beginner’s Guide to Striped Bass Fishing” in the hopes that he can pick up some pointers.
“This is my best friend,” he said. “I love you, little brother.”