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Join Telegram ChannelLawmakers grilled former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his handling of controversial COVID-era nursing home policies, demanding he apologize to families who lost loved ones during the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuomo testified Tuesday before the House Select Committee investigating the coronavirus regarding the deaths of elderly people after patients were admitted to nursing homes without COVID-19 testing.
On March 25, 2020, the New York State Department of Health issued an advisory under Cuomo stating that nursing homes “are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is deemed medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
Cuomo argued during the hearing that it was ultimately up to nursing homes to decide whether to take in patients, but lawmakers countered that the advisory prevented nursing homes from refusing to admit COVID-positive patients.
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WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 10: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo arrives to testify before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Rayburn House Office Building at the U.S. Capitol on September 10, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura)
“After months of investigation and inquiry, we now know beyond doubt what New Yorkers have known for years: Governor Cuomo himself and his most senior aides ordered, directed, and executed this deadly executive order contrary to CMS and CDC guidance,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.
“You are responsible for this,” Stefanik told the former governor. “There are families sitting here. I want you to turn around, look them in the eye and apologize, which you have not done. How do you do that?”
The former New York governor also testified at the hearing that he did not speak to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before or after the notice was sent.
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“And they never called me afterward. You would think if they had a problem with the directive, they would have called if it was so outrageous that you didn’t even call it,” Cuomo told the committee, adding that the advisory was “in full compliance with federal guidelines.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, questioned Cuomo during the hearing. (Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg)
Cuomo has been accused of Thousands of COVID-related deaths that have occurred in nursing homes, including a 2023 report from the New York State Department of Health that calculated there were 826 in Suffolk County, 813 in Erie County — which includes Buffalo — and 623 in Queens County.
The former governor blamed former President Donald Trump during the hearing, saying the investigation was part of “old diversions to blame New York and other states for the culpability of the federal response, which was malpractice.”
Republican members of the committee criticized Cuomo for shifting blame for the problem.
“I was hoping that we would see a Governor Cuomo who was less defensive and who had some remorse for what happened in New York. But I see that person did not show up today,” said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Republican of Iowa.
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 10: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is sworn in to testify before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Rayburn House Office Building at the U.S. Capitol on September 10, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura)
In conclusion, President Wenstrup added that he was “deeply skeptical of the abdication of responsibility to others that we have witnessed, not only here, but publicly.”
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“It seems that you have no intention of doing any soul-searching, Governor. I am sorry. You have no intention of doing any self-criticism about what could have been done better and improved. You have only doubled your efforts and blamed others,” Wenstrup said.
Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report.