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When presidents are this bad, it makes just about anyone look good. That is why we shouldn’t sanctify Andrew Cuomo right now. Juxtaposed next to Trump — who recklessly ignored warnings about the pandemic and appears ready now to sacrifice Americans to it for the sake of Wall Street — the governor of New York is earning plaudits from left and right alike for his ability, thus far, to tackle this crisis. He deserves many of them.

However, even as the president finds new ways to fail each day, we should stop gushing over another elected official who looks capable by comparison. Cuomo’s press conferences have been sharp, honest, and blunt. But New York state is now the domestic epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, with around seven percent of the world’s reported cases of COVID-19. He’s been rigorously working to increase testing and secure protective gear for the workers on the front lines, but one thing Cuomo needs to be held accountable for is how he handles the most at-risk people during the pandemic. That includes the approximately 43,000 incarcerated in New York state prisons and the tens of thousands of people who are employed there. Once the coronavirus enters a prison, its spread is rapid, and inevitable. For this reason, at least 16 states, including New Jersey, have already released inmates. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that the city will release about 300 people who are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes. So why hasn’t Cuomo taken action?

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The state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, which did not respond to a request for comment, confirmed on Sunday that three of its own personnel have contracted COVID-19 and that two people incarcerated at Wende Correctional Facility — including convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein — have also tested positive. The New York City Board of Corrections also revealed that 38 people in the city’s prisons have tested positive for COVID-19, including at the city’s infamous Rikers Island prison. In response, the board’s interim chairwoman, Jacqueline Sherman, echoed the pleas of clergy and physicians alike, recommending that New York City’s criminal justice leaders “rapidly decrease the jail population,” prioritizing those who are at a higher risk for infection. “Fewer people in the jails will save lives and minimize transmission among people in custody as well as staff,” she wrote.

Currently at Rikers, notorious for its prisoner abuse, conditions are reportedly so unsafe that 45 incarcerated people in two of its dorms began a strike over the weekend, refusing to leave for work duties or meals. They did so in protest of, among other things, the crowded living conditions that make so-called “social distancing” impossible. That incarcerated people would require such a drastic demonstration only puts an even harsher light on elected officials, including Cuomo, who have made it clear which New Yorkers, thus far, have been fit to save.

“Incarcerated people are largely black, brown, and poor people — the people that are always left behind and seen as discardable,” says organizer Rena Karefa-Johnson, the New York criminal justice director for FWD.us. “I think that the governor should really be prioritizing the safety of all New Yorkers. And that should include New Yorkers who are incarcerated.”

Dr. Yusef Salaam, who was one of the five boys who were later exonerated for the 1989 Central Park jogger case well after serving nearly seven years in prison, tells Rolling Stone that the pandemic is yet another hindrance to the rehabilitation of those who are incarcerated. “People went to a place to pay their debt, and then they will return. We have a whole population of people who are not invited to participate in society,” says Salaam, who now works with the Innocence Project. “What we’re looking at is making sure that the people at least get the opportunity to be productive again in society. That people get the opportunity to vote again. People get the opportunity to participate as full human beings.”

Yet during this pandemic, the only time that Cuomo has truly spotlighted incarcerated people as part of his efforts to mitigate the coronavirus crisis was when he used their poorly paid labor to make hand sanitizer. He even praised the scent of the product at a February press conference as akin to a “floral bouquet.” The entire spectacle, with the bottles stacked behind the proud salesman and governor, was a microcosm of the curious insensitivity that Cuomo has shown incarcerated people even as he garners valentines from the press for the things he is doing well.