Written by Christian Wade (The Center Square)
House Republicans questioned former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday about his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, amid new allegations that Democrats have sought to deflect responsibility for policies they say contributed to high nursing home death rates.
Members of the Republican-led coronavirus pandemic subcommittee grilled Cuomo for hours on controversial guidelines issued early in the pandemic that required New York nursing homes and long-term care facilities to admit COVID-19 patients.
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Lawmakers have accused Cuomo of ignoring science on infection control in nursing home settings and guidance from the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare that conflicts with his directives.
“Your directives were inconsistent with federal guidance and inconsistent with medical doctrine,” Rep. Brad Wenstrup, an Ohio Republican, said in his opening remarks. “You did not place susceptible patients with vulnerable patients, you did not place susceptible patients with vulnerable patients, and in this case, you did not cause death.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, the committee obtained new evidence in testimony showing that Cuomo and his team “deliberately chose to exclude scientifically significant nursing home-related COVID-19 deaths from their mortality estimates,” and released memos claiming they “heavily redacted” New York State Department of Health documents to deflect blame from Cuomo and his team.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R.N.Y., said the report’s findings show Cuomo attempted to cover up “deadly orders” that led to the deaths of “vulnerable seniors” at nursing homes, and she got into a heated argument after she asked the former governor to apologize to families who have lost loved ones in nursing homes during the pandemic.
“This is about seniors. There are families sitting here today,” she said. “I want you to look back, look them in the eye and apologize. You didn’t. Will you?”
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Other Republicans have criticized Cuomo for his lack of empathy for policies that have led to high COVID-19 death rates in long-term care facilities.
“You have shown absolutely no remorse or accountability for the actions of your administration,” Rep. Nicole Mulriotakis, R.N.Y., said in her remarks. “That is simply not leadership.”
Cuomo, a Democrat who resigned in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, defended himself before a House committee and accused Republicans of conducting a “partisan” investigation.
He blamed then-President Donald Trump for the high number of COVID-19 deaths nationwide, claiming Trump “intentionally deceived the American people” during the pandemic.
“His lies and denials delayed our response, allowed the virus to spread, and this country never caught up,” Cuomo said in his fiery opening remarks. “And this Republican-run subcommittee is repeating Trump’s lies and deceptions.”
Committee Democrats, including Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, defended Cuomo during Tuesday night’s hearing and also sought to focus criticism on Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
The March 25 directive required nursing homes to begin accepting “medically stable” patients recovering from COVID-19 who were discharged from hospitals in 2020. It was rescinded weeks later, but Cuomo was widely criticized for contributing to the high death toll in the state’s long-term care facilities.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 80,000 New Yorkers have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began through May 2023, including 15,000 nursing home residents.
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Cuomo noted that the U.S. Department of Justice investigated whether Cuomo’s policy violated the civil rights of New York nursing home residents and found no wrongdoing. He also noted that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s investigation was later dropped. He said both investigations concluded that New York’s directives were consistent with federal health policies in effect at the time.
“This report also provides no evidence to support President Trump’s central claim, which he has repeated for three years, that New York’s guidelines caused thousands of nursing home deaths,” he said. “Every credible study shows that COVID entered nursing homes through community spread, not through infected hospital admissions or readmissions. The numbers don’t lie.”
Co-published with permission from Center Square.
