Home Nation & World STORIES MOST RECENT STORIES news AROUND TOWN: Reader-submitted photos events BULLETIN BOARD pets Pet Adoption Network: Possum Former top state health official: Cuomo administration hindered COVID-19 response in NY DAVID ROBINSON | New York State Team Show Caption Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration allegedly hindered New York’s COVID-19 pandemic response by blocking the state Department of Health from collaborating with local health officials, a former top state health official testified. That explosive claim, as well as accusations of Cuomo fueling a toxic workplace for state employees, came to light during testimony delivered by Dr. Elizabeth Dufort, the former director of epidemiology for the state Health Department. Dufort’s revelations were included in thousands of pages of transcripts from interviews with Cuomo and his accusers. New York Attorney General Letitia James publicly released the documents, three months after issuing a report concluding the Democrat governor harassed 11 women. The report ultimately helped push Cuomo out of office. He stepped down Aug. 23. James, a Democrat who is now running for governor herself, had previously declined to release the transcripts while several district attorneys investigated Cuomo for potentially criminal behavior. But she is now releasing them on a rolling basis following the filing of a criminal complaint against Cuomo. While many of the interviews focused on harassment allegations, Dufort’s testimony detailed how Cuomo’s heavy-handed political style contributed to the resignations of dozens of top state health officials amid the pandemic. At one point, Dufort said state health officials “would continue to try to do public health work, but it would never be approved, it would never get to the healthcare providers, the public or the local health departments.” “We were not allowed to collaborate with our peers in the local health departments and New York City Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, which is a critical component in an outbreak response to collaborate with different facets of public health,” she continued. Dufort noted the local health officials actually implemented the outbreak response. “So generally, so not being able to collaborate with them in the way we normally would really hindered our ability to perform our jobs we felt,” she said. Cuomo did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment on the testimony. More: Andrew Cuomo transcript reveals testy back-and-forth with harassment investigators What the state health official says about Cuomo FILE - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference in July, 2021. RICHARD DREW, AP Dufort, who resigned last year, spoke to investigators in part because Cuomo made comments about her physical appearance during a COVID-19 press briefing in May. While Dufort was conducting a COVID-19 test on Cuomo in personal protective garb, the governor said, “You make that gown look good.” She later told investigators, “Obviously as a woman professional I recognize people's concern with that comment. It would not likely be said to an accomplished male physician. At the time I felt it was an inappropriate joke and wanted to move on.” Further, Dufort said she and other health officials opposed conducting the test in a room full of people at the state Capitol, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and the potential risk to journalists and others. The health officials “had concerns that the CDC was not recommending that you swab in a room with anyone else in it,” she said, adding Cuomo’s administration rejected safer alternative options. Dufort also addressed an exchange she had with the governor while conducting a mock test on him before the press event. “I said I promise I will be gentle…but it has to be accurate. It will be gentle and accurate,” she said, referring to the exchange. “And then the Governor said sort of a joke, gentle but accurate I heard that before. And somewhere around the word before I cut him off,” she added. Dufort also noted why she chose not to formally file a complaint about the comment. “I thought it was an inappropriate comment. I just wanted -- I was in the middle of a pandemic with a lot of work and I didn't think it necessarily by my understanding rose to the level of like an official report,” she said. More: Watch: Gov. Andrew Cuomo takes a COVID-19 test What health official says about Cuomo’s COVID response Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at a pop up COVID-19 vaccination site at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. MARY ALTAFFER, AP Dufort described a series of instances when Cuomo’s administration seemingly overruled or ignored the recommendations of public health officials. During the early struggles to ramp up testing, she noted the Executive Chamber had to sign off on state data sharing with local health officials and providers. At the time, she told superiors, ““I have concerns that lab results were not being reported to the local health departments or to the doctors in the optimal timely fashion as what should happen.” Sarah Ravenhall, executive director of the state Association of County Health Officials, addressed the testimony in a statement released Friday. “Notwithstanding the state’s change in approach at that time, (local health departments) immediately pivoted and worked to remain integrated in COVID-19 response efforts, providing countless critical services from contact tracing to vaccine distribution, and numerous others," Ravenhall said. Meanwhile, Dufort also raised questions about the state’s COVID-19 cluster strategy that imposed restrictions on activities in communities with higher case counts. “The zones were very complicated. There were metrics that our staff would work on, but they would only be announced that people met the metrics if that came from (Cuomo’s administration,” she said. “Some areas met the metrics and would be called a zone and others met the metrics and would not be called a zone,” she added. Dufort also addressed how Cuomo’s administration withheld the true COVID-19 death toll in nursing homes for months, which also have been under investigation by federal officials and the Assembly Judiciary Committee. “The nursing home issues I was not personally involved in, but I was hearing from colleagues involved in that that they had concerns about wanting to release data that wasn't being released and writing up a paper that they said would never see the light of day based on the lack of approvals,” she said. In another example, Dufort noted health officials tried to get COVID-19 guidance out for schools how to open safely but it would come out after schools opened,” citing delays caused by Cuomo’s administration. She noted “feedback would be provided by people (in Cuomo’s administration) who don't know public health or medicine.” “But luckily that feedback was minor,” she added. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo submits to a nasal swab for a COVID-19 test during his daily coronavirus briefing on May 17, 2020. JON CAMPBELL Dufort also addressed how Cuomo’s administration pushed for COVID-19 testing of people that wasn’t warranted or a priority, alluding to allegations that priority testing was provided to New Yorkers close to the governor, including his brother, Chris Cuomo. Dufort recalled how one of her staff was yelled at by a member of Cuomo’s leadership team over the testing. “And it was upsetting that it was by someone who really wasn't clear, didn't know or understand how contagious diseases work or that the core concepts around containing them or how to attempt to contain them," she testified. Addressing her reasons for resigning, Dufort said Cuomo’s administration also barred top health officials from taking time off, despite drops in cases and concerns about mental health and burnout. “Well in the early months it was just the sheer amount of work as appropriate and we felt that was appropriate,” she said. “In the summer is when it became more of a concern from staff because the rates were down and they just needed a break before it would rise again in the fall,” she added. Dufort estimated about 28 top state health officials have resigned or left the agency in connection to the former governor’s leadership during the pandemic. She asserted the resignations were due to “a toxic work environment and not being able to do the public health work they felt they are tasked to do for the State of New York.” More: Cuomo's family given priority to COVID tests early in pandemic: reports More: COVID-19 vaccine appointments for children 5-11 available in Rockland County Support local journalism We cover the stories from the New York State Capitol and across New York that matter most to you and your family. Please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription to the New York publication nearest you. David Robinson is the state health care reporter for the USA TODAY Network New York. 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