If you’ve been following Saratoga Living‘s coverage of the COVID-19 crisis, you’ll know that, on a pretty regular basis, we’ve been updating you on what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been saying at his daily press briefings. Well, apparently, the rest of the country has been listening, too.
Fifty-three-year-old Rolling Stone magazine—which has had everyone from The Beatles’ John Lennon, pop star Britney Spears and the Boston Marathon bomber on its cover throughout the years—has put Governor Cuomo on its May 2020 cover, along with a sprawling cover feature and Q&A by Contributing Editor Mark Binelli.
A few highlights of the feature interview:
Cuomo on his day-to-day work on the crisis:
“A situation like this is pretty much 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if you’re going to do it right. Because it’s evolving all the time. So, you work until you can’t work anymore, and then you close your eyes for 20 minutes and then you work again.”
Cuomo on his messaging to New Yorkers during the crisis:
“[Keep] it simple. Tell the truth. Give people facts. Explain what you’re doing, why you’re doing it. I don’t go out to impart confidence. You can appear confident, but you’re not going to fool New Yorkers, right? They’re going to hear what you’re saying and watch what you’re doing. They’ll make their own decision whether or not it makes sense. Here’s where we are, here’s what I’m doing, here’s what I’ve done, here’s what I plan to do, this is why I’m doing it.”
Cuomo on what the hardest thing for him, personally, has been during the crisis:
“I haven’t been able to see my mother. I’m not with one of my daughters. That on a personal level is very taxing. And I constantly say to myself, what else should I be doing? What else could I be doing? People are dying every day, and I don’t know what else to do. And I know that tomorrow more people will die. And I don’t know what else to do. And that is a terrible weight, and just an oppressive burden.”
