New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a new book says criticism of nursing home deaths due to COVID-19 are politically motivated.
At least 5,800 people have died in New York nursing homes and adult care facilities.
Many blamed Cuomo’s controversial March 25 order that required nursing homes to admit patients who were suspected to have or had tested positive for COVID-19.
“By early spring, Republicans needed an offense to distract from the narrative of their botched federal response — and they needed it badly,” Cuomo writes in his book, “American Crisis,” out Tuesday.
“So they decided to attack Democratic governors and blame them for nursing homes.”
Cuomo also slammed New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin for his April 25 piece, titled “State lacked common sense in nursing homes’ coronavirus approach.”
“It was an orchestrated strategy and a Fox News drumbeat,” he writes in the book.
“It wasn’t just me,” he continues. “[Gov.] Phil Murphy in New Jersey, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Gavin Newsom in California and Tom Wolf in Pennsylvania were all in the Republican crosshairs on nursing homes. As the states with the most deaths were Democratic states, the Trump forces saw us as an easy target.”
Cuomo’s March 25 order was deleted from the state of New York’s website. He released new guidance on May 10 mandating that hospitals could not send positive COVID-19 patients back to nursing homes until they tested negative for the virus.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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