NY governor Cuomo writing book about leadership during Covid crisis - despite state having highest death toll in America

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's next victory lap over the coronavirus — which is still raging throughout the country and is poised to return in force during the fall and winter — will come in the form of a book detailing his leadership skills.

Mr Cuomo gained a national audience in the early days of the US coronavirus spread thanks to daily press conferences he held discussing the state of the virus. His press conferences were viewed by some as a welcome alternative to the daily updates Donald Trump gave from the White House.

The New York governor will detail his experience leading the city through the pandemic in a new book, 'American Crisis,' which will be released on 13 Oct.

Crown Publishing announced the book on Tuesday, describing the book as part war journal, part political analysis.

"In his own voice, Andrew Cuomo chronicles in 'American Crisis' the ingenuity and sacrifice required of so many to fight the pandemic," the publisher wrote.

According to Crown, Mr Cuomo will be "sharing his personal reflections and the decision-making that shaped his policy," and will give "his frank accounting and assessment of his interactions with the federal government and the White House, as well as other state and local officials."

An excerpt from Mr Cuomo's book discussing fear appeared in the Associated Press Tuesday.

"The questions are what do you do with the fear and would you succumb to it," Mr Cuomo wrote. "I would not allow the fear to control me. The fear kept my adrenaline high and that was a positive. But I would not let the fear be a negative, and I would not spread it. Fear is a virus also."

Mr Cuomo has not been shy when it comes to celebrating the fact that New York now has one of the lowest Covid-19 infection rates in the country months after being the country's largest virus hotspot.

In July, Mr Cuomo unveiled a three dimensional mountain - the tangible version of a metaphor he often used to describe the state's fight against the pandemic - to note the state's success fighting the virus. Later that month he took the metaphor further, turning it into a commemorative poster that was one part editorial cartoon, one part Boschian nightmare.

Though Mr Cuomo was the preferred alternative to Mr Trump for many Democrat-aligned Americans — some even suggested they wanted him to run for president — Mr Cuomo's response to the coronavirus is not without detractors.

The most consistently lobbed criticism aimed at Mr Cuomo is that he - and the federal government - failed to act despite having months of foreknowledge that a pandemic was on its way. The state's first confirmed coronavirus case appeared in February, yet Mr Cuomo did little in the way of preparation until 15 March.

Even when he was in full swing, Mr Cuomo dragged his feet on implementing contract tracing, issuing shelter-at-home orders and closing schools. A state mandate he passed also banned nursing homes from rejecting elderly patients with the coronavirus, sending potentially tens of thousands of infected older people into densely populated, high-risk communities.

Between February and August, more than 32,000 New Yorkers have died from the coronavirus.