The political fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reverberate, with former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo now facing intense scrutiny over his handling of nursing home deaths during the crisis. A new report reveals that Cuomo’s office engaged in a deliberate cover-up to downplay the severity of COVID-19’s impact on nursing homes, casting a long shadow over his administration’s response.
According to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Cuomo’s office made “demonstrably false” statements while participating in what can only be described as a brazen attempt to obscure the truth. The New York Post has reported that Cuomo’s office was involved in editing state reports to minimize the death toll in nursing homes—a move that raises serious ethical and legal questions.
Cuomo’s administration issued a directive on March 25, 2020, requiring nursing homes to accept patients returning from hospitals, regardless of whether they were COVID-positive. The advisory explicitly stated that nursing homes could not deny admission based solely on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. This policy, as reported by the New York Post, left nursing homes with no choice but to accept individuals who were known to pose a risk to other residents.
In a bid to deflect blame, Cuomo has attempted to shift responsibility to federal and state health officials. During an interview in June 2024, Cuomo argued that the state directive was no different from federal guidelines and suggested that it was not responsible for the tragic outcomes. Representative Marc Molinaro criticized Cuomo’s attempts to evade accountability, stating that the state’s directive was markedly different and led to a significant increase in deaths.
Cuomo’s defense of his administration’s policies has been consistently self-serving. He has frequently pointed fingers at others, including the federal government and other states like Florida, while downplaying the impact of his own directives. In a September 2020 interview with Finger Lakes Daily News, Cuomo claimed that New York had effectively “flattened the curve” and that the state did not force nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients. This assertion stands in stark contrast to the evidence that his policies did indeed contribute to a significant rise in nursing home deaths.
The true extent of the tragedy may be even worse than currently reported. New York State has acknowledged over 6,600 nursing home deaths related to COVID-19. However, this number does not account for residents who initially contracted the virus in a nursing home but later died in a hospital. Some estimates suggest that the actual death toll could be twice as high. State Senator Tom O’Mara has co-sponsored a bill demanding a full and accurate accounting of these deaths, underscoring the need for transparency and accountability.
Cuomo’s reaction to the criticism has been to downplay his administration’s responsibility. He has insisted that the deaths were inevitable due to the virus’s predilection for senior citizens, rather than acknowledging the role of his own policies. Moreover, his boast that New York was “number 46 out of 50 states” in terms of percentage of nursing home deaths is a disingenuous attempt to shift the focus away from the catastrophic outcomes of his policies.
As the House Select Subcommittee prepares to interview Cuomo, the spotlight is on his administration’s actions and the subsequent cover-up.
