Competence is captivating. No need to tell viewers tuning in to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s daily media briefings. Many have been riveted by his plain talk in the face of a global pandemic.

Others are increasingly focused on the woman usually seated at his left: the one who on a recent Thursday countered a reporter’s suggestion that New York had dragged its heels in response to the spread of the coronavirus by assuring him in a tone like flint that once it was clear that New York, and not just the West Coast, was an entry point for the virus, “we shut down fully, with literally zero guidance from the federal government.”