Previous Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, set to appear before a House committee to discuss his handling of the pandemic situation.
The forthcoming hearing will serve as a significant platform for Republicans to put the former governor under scrutiny after he testified privately before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in June. Being a Democrat, Cuomo has been out of power for a while, leaving question marks about the fresh details that might surface during the testimony. Dr. Fauci, ex-chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also appeared for a heated public hearing before the same subcommittee in June.
Cuomo gained national attention early in the pandemic due to his daily coronavirus briefings and fervent pleas for federal aid in medical supplies. However, he later became a center of controversy due to nursing home-related deaths. The former governor maintains that the state adhered to federal guidelines during the pandemic.
A representative for Cuomo has confirmed his attendance at the hearing.
As per Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo's spokesperson, "The one question that's been overlooked all along is still being overlooked: 'Why did the U.S. suffer the highest COVID-19 death toll among countries and how can we prevent this from happening again?' It's Governor Cuomo's pleasure to join the committee once more in an attempt to find an answer."
New York's handling of nursing homes and their residents has been under investigation, particularly following a controversial advisory issued by the state health department on March 25, 2020, regarding hospital discharges and nursing home admissions.
The advisory stated that residents could not be denied admission solely due to COVID-19 and that nursing homes could not require a test for the virus before admitting medically stable patients.
In May 2020, Cuomo announced an executive order requiring negative COVID-19 tests before hospital patients were released to nursing homes.
Cuomo asserts that New York acted in accordance with federal guidelines in placing coronavirus patients in nursing homes and that the advisory aligned with recommendations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Before the hearing, Republicans from the House panel released a 48-page report accusing Cuomo of being involved in the decision leading to the March 25 directive. The report further criticized the directive, contending that it was inconsistent with federal guidance and had disastrous consequences.
The report also alleges that Cuomo's administration manipulated data to hide the gravity of nursing home deaths and influenced a report by the Department of Health to shift blame for nursing home resident deaths.
As part of their investigation, the subcommittee interviewed Cuomo and more than ten aides, in addition to reviewing over 550,000 pages of documents.
Azzopardi, Cuomo's spokesperson, asserted in a statement that "This MAGA Congressional Commission fell short in verifying the myth they've been peddling for years: The report does not establish a causal link between the March 25th DOH guidance and nursing home deaths." The statement also claimed that the testimony provided by a former health department official contradicted the claim of Cuomo's involvement with the guidance.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James published a report in 2021 finding that the New York State Department of Health underreported COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents by approximately 50%. An audit conducted by state officials in 2022 revealed that the New York health department had underreported nursing home COVID-19 deaths during Cuomo's tenure by thousands.
Critics argue that focusing solely on deaths inside nursing homes and excluding deaths in hospitals resulted in an artificially low count of nursing home deaths, which helped Cuomo portray New York's pandemic response favorably compared to other regions.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, an Ohio Republican who leads the subcommittee and is also a doctor, announced that Cuomo would appear publicly before the panel, stating, "Andrew Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York's nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic." The hearing is set for September 10, allowing Americans to hear directly from Cuomo about New York's nursing home policies.
Azzopardi said in a statement that the report shows that "out-of-facility nursing home tabulations were initially withheld due to legitimate concerns over accuracy."
Cuomo has faced investigations by several entities, including the Department of Justice, Manhattan district attorney, New York attorney general, and the New York State Assembly, but no charges were filed regarding his handling of the pandemic.
The subcommittee's announcement of the report also noted that current New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat, had been uncooperative in providing documents and information, and the panel was considering further action, such as issuing a subpoena. The report states that the New York State Executive Chamber did not produce documents until eight months after the initial request, but the subcommittee has since received three separate productions totaling 373,999 documents.
Cuomo was first elected governor in 2010 and served for almost three full terms before resigning in August 2021 following the release of a report by James' office alleging that he had sexually harassed multiple women. Cuomo denies the allegations.
CBC News's John Doe, Jane Smith, and Charlie Brown assisted in compiling this piece.
In light of the forthcoming hearing, politics surrounding Governor Cuomo's handling of nursing home-related deaths during the pandemic will undoubtedly be a topic of discussion. Despite facing numerous investigations, Democrats and Republicans continue to debate the accuracy of reported COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents in New York.
