Leader of an advocacy group for residents of nursing homes who denounce Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged New York City voters to reject the mayor's expected comeback bid due to the Covid-related deaths of thousands of relatives.
“New York is better than Andrew Cuomo. We're there at every stage of the road as a reminder,” said the open letter to the Democrats for a three-term drafted by the senior group voice.
“We won't forget,” the letter the post received said. “Silence is not an option.”
Amidst the group's grievances, the controversial controversy of the Cuomo administration on March 25, 2020, when nursing homes directed the recovery of Covid-19 patients who had been discharged from hospitals.
They also denounced Cuomo for covering up the reported deaths of the nursing home, drafting memoirs that would make him and his administration's $5 million profitable deal with pandemic.
“When you announce your comeback and prepare to run for mayor of New York City, it's most important to remember what your previous failed leadership left behind,” the group of 5,000 told Cuomo.
“Over 15,000 elderly people (residents shattered) who died in nursing homes – families shattered, businesses shattered, communities shattered – there were all reckless, selfish, heartless decisions to put your own agenda and ambitions more than the lives of those you think you'll protect,” Searing Letter said.
The missive was prepared by Vivienne Zayas and her sisters, Alexa Rivera, Tracy Alvino and Grace Colucci. He all had loved ones who died of coronavirus after being discharged from the nursing home or while being treated there.
“It's up to us to ensure that New York voters never forget that your significant negligence will cost you more than 15,000 lives,” the group leader wrote.
“This time we were our loved ones, but if you should climb the way back to the office, we are all in danger.”
The letter warned New Yorkers not to fall into Cuomo's display of “narcissistic desire for power and control” again seeking public office.
“Your corruption and incompetence caused death, confusion, and destruction. We know that you rely on the passage of time that wanes our memories, where bullying and tyranny were the doctrine of your rules,” they write.
“We cannot be at the mercy of a man who prioritizes his self-interest over the greatest benefits of a New Yorker,” the letter said.
“And while New York was bleeding, you turned inward and focused on yourself. You lied about the number of deaths, not to protect the public, but to protect the $5 million contract. You stood in front of the TV cameras and patted the back for so-called leadership while hiding the true depths of the tragedy you caused. As your family cried out for answers, your reaction was soulless, merciless and negative: “Who cares about them?”
The group relies on Cuomo for protection by New York's most vulnerable and immunocompromised elderly residents, but he said they “had breathless for the air.”
“Like and over,” the senior voice said, “You put yourself first.”
“Mr. Cuomo, your time as governor has proven you are not suited to take office!” The group was charged. “We demand justice without rest.”
Cuomo officials defended the former governor's record during the fatal century pandemic.
“Two million Americans have passed away in Covid and our hearts break for all the families affected by those deaths,” said Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopaldi.
He cited the U.S. Department of Justice Watchdog Report on leaks about agency investigations of pandemic-related nursing home deaths in New York and New Jersey.
“It is also undisputed that inspectors have investigated this issue and found that the Department of Justice has corrupted its powers in pursuit of Governor Cuomo and other Democrat governors through covids of nursing homes for purely political purposes,” Atzpaldi said.
“We also concluded that New York nursing home policies were consistent with federal guidance, with dozens of states (Democrats and Republicans) having similar protocols and that those states had worse infection and mortality rates than New York,” he said.
The civil court case with the nursing home issues was dismissed and that was filed by three separate DOJ probes, as well as by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, was closed after the law was concluded that the law had not been broken, with no evidence of fraud, Azzopardi said.
A Cuomo spokesman also argued that “we have never linked nursing home admission guidance to an increase in deaths, but rather it was linked to the spread of the community that brought Covid to nursing homes a few months before the US government knew it was here.”
However, the Republican-led House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released a report in December claiming that Cuomo committed “medical malpractice” and publicly compensated for the total number of COVID-related nursing home deaths in New York during the worst period of the pandemic, giving him a “false statement” about his role in decision-making during the pandemic.
Even House Democrats of the panel have released their own investigation report on the Covid crisis that burned fellow Dem Cuomo for “interfering” with the accounting of nursing home deaths.
Several independent studies alleged that the March 25, 2020 Nursing Home Order effectively caused additional deaths of nursing home residents over the course of six weeks.
