Andrew Cuomo’s Nursing Home Scandal is a Disappointment
It’s time to stop overlooking Cuomo’s mishaps and hold him accountable.
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has intentionally hid nearly 50% of COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes for nearly a year, according to a report released by New York Attorney General James on January 28.
The excluded 50% were made up of infected residents who had been transferred from long-term care facilities to hospitals. The deaths number increased by the thousands, hiking the death toll from around 6,400 to 12,743.
Early in the pandemic, Cuomo implemented a questionable policy to alleviate the weight from overwhelmed hospitals, ordering New York nursing homes to take in infected patients from them. This should have been a red flag. An already vulnerable community was placed at further risk of infection, and that policy is partly responsible for allowing thousands more to die.
The Attorney General’s report also adds, “Government guidance requiring the admission of COVID-19 patients into nursing homes may have put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities and may have obscured the data available to assess that risk.”
Cuomo has deflected accountability. He maintains that he withheld the data to avoid scrutiny from Trump’s Justice Department. However, this defense puts him in a deeper rabbit hole, as he has essentially admitted to politicizing the pandemic. It is an insult to the families who lost loved ones to COVID-19.
The facade that Cuomo has crafted — and written about in his recently published (tone-deaf-pat-on-the back) memoir — is crumbling. And it’s disappointing, to say the least.
The nursing home scandal undermines everything Cuomo has been praised for doing since the start of the pandemic. When New York City was the virus epicenter, frightened New Yorkers and the rest of America looked up to Cuomo as a leader amid an absent Trump administration. When we were gas lit by our own president, Cuomo comforted us with his transparency and honesty.
Thus, he became a national emblem. His televised daily briefings won him an Emmy Award. He was a stable presence for some and even a sex symbol for others.
Of course, Gov. Cuomo did certain things right; his head-on approach has helped stabilize New York’s infection rate. But that does not justify his missteps.
Since the report was released, Cuomo has dealt with bipartisan backlash. Cuomo has received calls for impeachment by Republicans. Due to his handling of nursing home numbers, many New Yorkers are demanding his resignation from office. Democratic leaders in the New York State Legislature are proposing to have Cuomo’s emergency executive powers revoked for obstruction of justice.
It’s hard to let go of the glorified image America has upheld of Andrew Cuomo — especially one that helped us cope during the scariest and most uncertain time of the pandemic. But continuing to praise him as an honest and graceful leader would be delusional.
