Yeah, that's a fuckup! But that's also not relevant for NYC.
Look, some Republican governors fucked up (and continue to fuck up) for political reasons. But some Democrat governors, including Andrew Cuomo (governor of NY) have also fucked up, and it's hard to blame that entirely on the Republicans.
As far as I can tell, only Washington state and California really did well at the beginning of the pandemic in the US. (And even then, California's not doing fantastic now)