As the governor of New York, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, undoubtedly, has a lot on his plate. One such item is the figuring out how to handle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Now, as the pandemic has been ongoing for more than half a year already, one way to determine the current course of action is to look at past successes and failures.
However, when it comes to Cuomo’s epic nursing home failure, he doesn’t want anyone looking into it. And yes, he actually said that.
On Monday, during a teleconference with the press, the governor was asked about his support of possible probes into his handling of the virus early on, including the now-infamous nursing home fiasco and how some “inquiries” might have been “partisan-based.”
He responded that any probe into his actions was not needed and, therefore, political by nature.
As Fox News reported, “Cuomo, during a press conference on Monday, said he “wouldn’t do an investigation” into the nursing home deaths during the coronavirus pandemic in the state of New York. I wouldn’t do an investigation whether or not it’s political; everybody can make that decision for themselves. I think you’d have to be blind to realize it’s not political.”
However, he most certainly thinks that any investigation into his “not political” decisions, would be nothing but “political.”
He said, “Just look at where (the criticism) comes from, and look at the sources. And look at their political affiliation, and look at who wrote the letter in Congress. And look at what publications raise it and what media… networks raise it. It’s kind of incredible.”
Ok, let’s say we do what he says and look at where these accusations come from. According to Cuomo, they will lead us straight to some backwater conservative who only thinks with his political brain.
But that’s not exactly what we found.
Sure, there are a few conservative-leaning publications and media personnel who have questioned Cuomo’s motives and actions during the pandemic. Most notably is Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean, who lost her in-laws in New York nursing homes this spring, and lawmakers like Republican Representative Steve Scalise.
However, there were many, many more who weren’t nearly so conservative-minded.
We found publications like the New York Daily News, which is far from conservative, asking for answers into Cuomo’s actions.
As the outlet wrote recently, “Unlike other states, New York has only included in its tally deaths that occurred inside nursing homes themselves. Why? How many nursing home residents died after being transferred to hospitals for treatment? Experts believe at least 1,000 fatalities may be unaccounted for.”
But as they note, “Whenever these and other questions are raised, Cuomo suggests bad-faith politics at work. But many of the people asking tough questions are Democrats.”
Another publication, and one, even more liberal than the Daily News, ProPublica has noted that they too have asked for information from the governor’s office about the events surrounding the many nursing home deaths. And months later, they are still waiting for answers.
They wrote, “Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has yet to make public the names of dozens of nursing homes whose experiences could shed light on whether the administration’s controversial policy of sending hospital patients sick with COVID-19 into the vulnerable homes contributed to the state’s staggering loss of life.”
ProPublica went on to note that under the governor’s orders, some 6,000 confirmed cases of COVID were sent back into nursing homes across the state. And as a result, at least 6,500, to date, nursing home residents have died, which is more than 6 percent of the state’s entire nursing home population.
And yet when anyone tries to look deeper into these cases, all they get back is something that notes that 58 homes in the state hadn’t seen a single case of COVID before the policy was put into place. However, it says nothing about what the homes have seen since. “Asked repeatedly by ProPublica about the fate of those 58 homes, spokespersons for the governor and his Health Department did not respond.”
Even the New York Times has questioned the governor, asking, “Does Cuomo Share Blame for 6,200 Virus Death in N.Y. Nursing Homes?”
You’d think, if Cuomo is telling the truth and there was nothing “political” going on, he would welcome an investigation, especially if that investigation was bipartisan. However, he “wouldn’t do” it.
Well, one thing is for sure, like he said, people can make that decision for themselves. Well, let me tell you, they are, and the results aren’t looking good for Cuomo.
