Comments

You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name

Your e-mail (optional)

Website (optional)

	My Original Nic Pic-a-Nic Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Foto

Submit your comments on this article

Home Front: Politix

Cuomo Defends Directing Nursing Homes to Admit COVID-Positive Patients

2024-09-11

[Epoch Times] Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared before Congress on Sept. 10 to defend his decision-making in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic when he governed the state. The governor’s March 2020 directive requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19-positive patients has been widely criticized as a direct contributor to the state’s high number of pandemic fatalities.

Cuomo, however, told members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Monday the directive was not to blame for those deaths. "All credible studies now say that COVID came into nursing homes through community spread and infected staff, not hospital admissions or readmissions," he said.

Cuomo’s actions were defended by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, who agreed with the former governor that President Donald Trump’s policies were primarily to blame for any excess pandemic deaths. "I confess, Mr. Chairman, that I’m appalled by the majority’s decision to evade and bypass the central events of the epidemic for totally political reasons," Raskin said, calling Trump’s response to the pandemic a failure.

Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, asked the former governor whether it was his decision to change his state’s reporting of nursing home fatality data in May 2020 to exclude out-of-facility deaths, such as the deaths of residents who were transferred to hospitals.

Cuomo replied that it was not his decision and that he didn’t know whose it was.

Noting that the change artificially lowered New York’s reported number of nursing home fatalities, Ruiz asked whether that was the reason for the adjustment.

Cuomo said the change arose from increased inquiries "as the Republicans started this nursing home scandal theory."

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) criticized Cuomo for securing a $5 million book deal in the midst of the pandemic, saying he would "never hold elected office again." The former governor resigned from his post in August 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment.

Posted by:Bobby

00:00