Exclusive | Cuomo used damaging big-foot tactics, secrecy in dealing with NYC officials battling COVID: scathing study

Mayoral candidate and then-Gov.Andrew Cuomo used heavy-handed tactics and secretiveness with Big Apple officials as the city struggled to contain the deadly COVID pandemic, a scathing new study says.Ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio also gets dinged in the report, which was issued by several city agencies that analyzed New York City’s handling of the health crisis — and which specifically criticized the toxic relationship between him and Cuomo.“Coordination challenges between Governor Cuomo’s and Mayor de Blasio’s administrations impeded City-State collaboration and contributed to duplicative work, inconsistent recommendations, and a loss of trust from New Yorkers,” says the COVID-19 Response Review Report covering January 2020 to July 2022 and obtained by The Post.The analysis was prepared by city agencies — notably the Health Department, Office of Emergency Management and Health+Hospitals — serving under Cuomo’s now-mayoral foe, Hizzoner Eric Adams.Cuomo was accused in the report of big-footing City Hall and unnecessarily micro-managing the city’s response.“The Cuomo administration was reluctant to share data with the City and often refused to give advance warning of policy changes and new directives,” the study said.For example, in March 2020, the state restricted the city’s access to its Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS), which tracks hospital capacity across New York state, though the city historically had regular access.“This limited the City’s insight into hospital impacts and hindered its ability to support the NYC healthcare system,” the report said.Don Weiss, the former longtime “surveillance director” for the city Health Department, said state Health Department officials he worked with for years told him they weren’t supposed to share information.“It was because of the pissing contest between Cuomo and de Blasio.

It was ludicrous,” he said.A former state official said Cuomo’s “strong dislike” of de Bla...