New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday dismissed the nursing home scandal in his state as a conspiracy and said the Trump administration has played politics since day one of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cuomo has been dogged by criticism for months over his controversial March 25 order that required nursing homes to admit patients who were suspected to have or had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and the Department of Justice on Wednesday said it was expanding an investigation into whether New York is undercounting the number of nursing home residents who are dying from COVID-19.
“What a shock that the Department of Justice sent a letter a few days before an election trying to advance a political theory,” Cuomo said Thursday during an appearance on “The View.”
“They have played politics on this from day one, right? They have done a terrible job on COVID from day one and they want a counter defense.”
“What they were saying was, ‘Well, a lot of people died in nursing homes in Democratic states — it’s not just New York, it’s all the Democratic states.’ And the truth is, a lot of people did die in nursing homes in Democratic states. The truth is people are dying today in nursing homes in Republican states. It’s just that Democratic states had the disease worse and earlier, and older people are more vulnerable to COVID, right?”
Approximately 6,326 COVID-19-positive patients were admitted to nursing homes between March 25 and May 8, according to a state health department report.
Cuomo said New York didn’t top the list on nursing home deaths.
“If you look at how many people died in New York nursing homes, New York is number 46 out of 50 states in the percentage of deaths in nursing homes,” he said. “So the conspiracy they’re trying to spread just has no factual basis. But yes, people in nursing homes died, and they’re playing politics with the issue, which I think is especially cruel because people who lost loved ones in a nursing home, they’re dealing with it, and now they also have to deal with the confusion or the pain of maybe government did this.”
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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