New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being accused of failing to protect nursing home residents during the coronavirus pandemic, which one state representative called an “inexcusable tragedy.” While many are blaming Cuomo’s policies for the high death toll, one place you won’t hear any questions about it is on CNN, where experts point out the governor is instead lobbed softball questions during playful interviews with his younger brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
Gov. Cuomo recently reversed a March 25 order that forced nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for coronavirus despite testing deficiencies for both residents and staff. Cuomo signed an executive order on May 11 stopping hospitals from sending infected patients back to nursing homes and ramping up testing for staff.
More than 4,800 people died from COVID-19 in nursing homes in New York from March 1 to May 1, according to a count by the governor’s office. Roughly 25 percent of all deaths in the state have occurred in nursing homes.
“What may turn out to have been Cuomo’s worst unforced error was his March 25 order that nursing homes must accept patients who carried the coronavirus. This now looks like setting off a series of time bombs in New York State’s elder-care facilities, and Cuomo didn’t reverse this policy until May 11,” National Review’s Kyle Smith wrote in a piece headlined, “Andrew Cuomo’s Reckless Choices.”
“We now know that Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had been packing coronavirus patients into nursing homes for weeks, possibly killing untold numbers of people,” NewsBusters analyst Nicholas Fondacaro wrote on May 14, while New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin wrote on May 5, “This nursing home disaster is on you, Gov. Cuomo.”
Some local lawmakers are demanding action. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is seeking a federal probe into Cuomo’s policy.
“Today I joined my [New York GOP] colleagues in the House to call for a federal investigation of Cuomo’s failed nursing home policies,” Stefanik tweeted Friday. “NOW they admit they unethically changed the way they report nursing home deaths. An INEXCUSABLE tragedy for NY — NEED ANSWERS.”
New York Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis also called for an independent federal investigation last week during an appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“On March 24th, Gov. Cuomo said, ‘My mother is not expendable, your mother is not expendable’ and yet the very next day he signed an executive order mandating nursing homes — where our most vulnerable mothers and our most vulnerable fathers reside — to accept COVID positive patients,” Malliotakis said. “There are 5,000 residents of nursing homes or patients that have been put into nursing homes that have died, which account for 25 percent of the deaths in the state of New York.”
RandyMarsh
Article URL : https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-andrew-cuomo-nursing-home-deaths-new-york