New York City’s Health Commissioner Resigns in Protest of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 Policies

Dr. Oxiris Barbot, the former Health Commissioner for New York City, has resigned from her post because of the city’s coronavirus response.

Barbot believes that the experts were sidelined to the detriment of the city throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and this has hurt the public health a great deal.

“I leave my post today with deep disappointment,” Barbot wrote in her resignation letter, blasting the ineptitude of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. “Our experts are world renowned for their epidemiology, surveillance and response work. The city would be well served by having them at the strategic center of the response not in the background.”

Dr. Dave Chokshi, a former Obama administration hack who worked as principal health adviser to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, will be taking Barbot’s place in the role. She made it clear in her resignation letter that her love of the city and its people has not wavered.

“I am proud that as a woman of color raised in public housing in this city, I always put public health, racial equity and the well-being of the city I love first,” Barbot wrote in her letter. “My commitment to this city and to public health is unwavering.”

De Blasio recently announced that he would be depriving the health department of the city’s contact tracing program, and giving that power to Health and Hospitals, the agency tasked with running the city’s public hospitals.

“We need an atmosphere of unity, of common purpose, and people really focusing on all the parts of this government working together,” de Blasio said. “What I’m saying was, it became clear that there was a need to move forward.”

Big League Politics has reported on de Blasio’s many public health failures throughout the pandemic, including but not limited to allowing Black Lives Matter terror riots to happen during the supposed COVID-19 emergency:

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio openly admitted that the city is restricting any and all public gatherings *except* for Black Lives Matter riots and protests, while speaking with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.

De Blasio first emphasized his administration was committed to purging any public events and gatherings in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Things like outdoor concerts and parades… Things that here in this city could mean not just thousands, but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. It’ s just not time for that now.”

De Blasio pivoted shamelessly, openly flouting his double standard when Blitzer mentioned the ongoing protests and riots.

“Look, this is always a area of real sensitivity. If you’re just talking about health, we would always say, hey folks, stay home if you can… But we understand this moment in history people are talking about the need for historic changes. I mean today, in New York City, recognizing the power and the meaning of the message of Black Lives Matter, which we did in front of Trump Tower today,” said de Blasio of a puerile stunt the city had orchestrated, painting the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ on a street in front of Trump Tower in an empty gesture targeting Donald Trump. “This is a historic moment of change. We have to respect that.”

De Blasio’s leadership has turned New York City back into the hell scape that it was in the 1970s. The city needs another savior, like Rudy Giuliani, or it will continue to descend into squalor.