“Dr. Howard Zucker’s resignation as Commissioner of the State Department of Health (DOH) was an obvious and overdue step. That’s why I, and members of the Assembly Minority Conference, called on Gov. Hochul to make an immediate change. While he remains at DOH until a replacement is named, arriving at this point should not have taken so long.

Throughout the COVID pandemic, Dr. Zucker was more interested in protecting Andrew Cuomo’s image than protecting public health. As Gov. Hochul begins the process of finding a new health commissioner, I hope she looks for an individual without ties to the previous administration or the numerous controversies that defined it.”