Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo began testimony Tuesday at an intense Assembly subcommittee hearing centered on his response to the COVID-19 pandemic as the virus began spreading in the state’s nursing homes in 2020.
Members of the Republican-led House COVID-19 Subcommittee released a report ahead of Governor Cuomo’s testimony accusing Democratic lawmakers of orchestrating a “cover-up” to hide mistakes that put nursing home residents at risk.
During the hearing, Gov. Cuomo fiercely defended his administration’s actions during the pandemic, saying the subcommittee was trying to deflect attention from former President Donald Trump’s failed pandemic leadership.
Cuomo told the committee the report “provides no evidence to support President Trump’s central claim, repeated for three years, that New York state guidelines caused thousands of nursing home deaths. In fact, the report finds no causal relationship whatsoever. No deaths.”
Cuomo resigned in August 2021 after sexual harassment allegations emerged, which he denied.
Cuomo was widely seen as a reassuring figure in the early months of the pandemic, but his popularity took a hit after it emerged his administration had released incomplete tallies of deaths in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Critics also focus on a directive issued in March 2020 that initially prohibited nursing homes from refusing to admit patients solely because they had COVID-19.
The order was issued to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients whose illnesses are not serious enough to require hospitalization, but who need nursing home care for other symptoms and cannot simply be discharged or sent home.
The directive led to more than 9,000 patients who had recovered from coronavirus being discharged from hospitals to nursing homes, but it was later rescinded amid speculation that it had accelerated the spread of the virus.
“Governor, this is your responsibility. Your name is on the letterhead. This is your directive,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, chairman of the Select COVID-19 Subcommittee. “You are the leader. The responsibility is yours.”
The death toll from coronavirus among New York long-term care facility residents has reached nearly 15,000, far higher than initially announced.
Following a heated exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik over nursing home deaths, Stefanik told Governor Cuomo, “There are families sitting here. I want you to turn around, look them in the eye and apologize. You haven’t done that. Will you?”
Governor Cuomo countered that the hearing was not intended to be an exercise in political theater.
The Assembly committee said it determined that Governor Cuomo and his aides approved the directive and then tried to shift the blame by ordering an unscientific report that concluded the March directive, which was later rescinded, likely had little effect on the death toll.
As part of the investigation, senior officials from Cuomo’s former administration were questioned.
Governor Cuomo testified before the subcommittee in June, but behind closed doors.
Another state report commissioned by Cuomo’s successor, Gov. Kathy Hokul, and released this summer found that policies on how nursing homes should respond to COVID-19 were “rushed and uncoordinated” but based on the best understanding of the science at the time.
