Facing Flak For Highest Death Toll Among U.S States, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Calls Coronavirus The ‘European Virus’, Compares Trump to COVID  

With over 32,000 deaths, New York has suffered the highest death toll of any U.S. state during the coronavirus pandemic but that did not deter state Govenor Andrew Cuomo from launching a blistering attack on U.S President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic

During a speech he delivered to the Democratic National Convention, three-time governor of New York state accused the White House of "negligence" and in a convoluted turn of phrase compared President Trump to the coronavirus.

“We know that our problems go beyond the COVID virus: COVID is the symptom, not the illness,” Cuomo said. “Our nation is in crisis, and in many ways COVID is just a metaphor.” he added

“A virus attacks when the body is weak, when it cannot defend itself,” Cuomo continued. “Over the past few years America’s body politic has been weakened…Only a strong body can fight off the virus, and America’s divisions weakened it. Donald Trump didn’t create the initial division, the division created Trump: he only made it worse.”

In an apparent retort to Trump's labeling of COVID-19 as the "China virus, Cuomo dubbed coronavirus as the ‘European virus’.

“Our collective strength is exercised through government. It is, in effect, our immune system. And our current federal government is dysfunctional and incompetent. It couldn't fight off the virus. In fact, it didn't even see it coming. The European virus infected the northeast while the White House was still fixated on China," Cuomo said during his speech.

The U.S. has close to 5.5 million COVID-19 cases, the most in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University data. More than 170,000 individuals have died as a result of the virus -- and cases are still rising in many parts of the country.