Andrew Cuomo built a coronavirus 'mountain'

Welcome to the great New York state science fair.

New York's coronavirus cases are finally starting to settle down, with hospitalizations falling from their peak of more than 18,000 to just 853 as of Sunday. So New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) decided to celebrate by essentially adding a new mountain to the states' famed Adirondack region, or at least a scaled-down replica of one.

Cuomo started his Monday press conference by quizzing the gathered reporters on the highest mountain in New York state, which is Mt. Marcy, and then pulling back a curtain to reveal a mountain of his own. But the green topographic sculpture wasn't anything you'd encounter on a hike — it was a massive model of the state's COVID-19 hospitalization curve. "This is the mountain that New Yorkers climbed" before the hospitalization curve plateaued after 42 days, Cuomo explained, making it clear that "we don't want to climb this mountain again."

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Mt. Marcy was named after the New York state governor in charge when the Adirondack high peaks were first surveyed, presumably meaning this latest addition is named Mt. Cuomo.