De Blasio simply has to deflect blame for this elsewhere.
His citizens expect government to “take care of them,” and he can’t do that. Even under the best of circumstances, it’s up to the medical profession to take care of sick people, but given de Blasio’s political and ideological proclivities, his prescriptions can only make things worse than they would be otherwise.
Add to that what I believe to be the “Katrina effect,” that of (what looks like) an attempt to sequester federally-provided resources in order to keep Donald Trump from receiving even the slightest credit for helping, and you have a toxic and deadly mixture.
For reference, see Puerto Rico story, about 2 months ago.
Cuomo was hiding respirators like PR was hiding water and TP.