House Democrats released a blistering report on Tuesday that further scrutinizes former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s handling of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, which is part of a investigation conducted by the Democratic members of the House Select Subcommittee on the COVID-19 Pandemic, accuses Cuomo and his administration of “interfering” with the state’s reporting of nursing home fatalities, contributing to a misrepresentation of the true scope of the crisis.
The report centers on Cuomo’s executive actions during the early months of the pandemic, particularly his controversial order mandating nursing homes to admit COVID-positive patients, exposing the virus to particularly vulnerable populations, allowing it to rapidly spread among those most sensitive to it. Over 15,000 seniors died in New York’s nursing homes following the order, many of them after being transferred to hospitals.
One of the most damning revelations in the Democratic report focuses on the interference by Cuomo’s office in the reporting of nursing home deaths. The report details how the Cuomo administration excluded nursing home deaths that occurred in hospitals after patients were transferred there, which significantly downplayed the true death toll in these facilities. Thousands of nursing home residents died in hospitals after being moved from care homes, yet these deaths were not included in the state’s official tally, sparking concerns that the public was misled about the real number of fatalities.
The House Democrats, led by California Rep. Raul Ruiz, described how Cuomo’s executive chamber “delayed releasing nursing home death data to the New York State legislature.” This delay, they argue, was driven by political concerns and the desire to avoid scrutiny, particularly as former President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice was investigating the state’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes.
Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment (which he denies), has repeatedly defended his administration’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. A spokesperson for Cuomo, Richard Azzopardi, rejected the Democrats’ report, claiming that the overall number of COVID-19 deaths was never in dispute. Azzopardi argued that the exclusion of out-of-facility deaths was due to concerns over the accuracy of the data at the time, as well as the need to comply with politically motivated federal investigations.
Despite these explanations, the Democratic report maintained that Cuomo and his aides misled the public about the nursing home death toll.
While the Democrats focused more on the data manipulation and lack of transparency, the Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the COVID-19 Pandemic released a report the previous day that took a much harsher stance on Cuomo’s actions. The GOP report accused Cuomo of committing medical malpractice by requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients.
The GOP report also contended that Cuomo’s actions led to a “cover-up” of the nursing home death toll, suggesting that the former governor may have falsified statements in an attempt to obstruct the subcommittee’s investigation.
New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), a vocal critic of Cuomo during the pandemic, voiced his support for the Republican findings, calling for Cuomo to be prosecuted for criminal fraud and perjury.
“Cuomo needs to be charged with criminal fraud and perjury,” Kim said, adding that Cuomo’s pandemic decisions “led to thousands of unnecessary deaths.” Kim also dismissed the idea of Cuomo making a political comeback, calling his bid for mayor of New York City a “non-starter.”
Many voters may view the release of the Democratic report as too little, too late, given that it comes years after the peak of the pandemic, after former Governor Cuomo had been out of office for years. In 2020, Cuomo was widely and explicitly praised by Democrats for his pandemic response, going so far as portraying his leadership as a model for other states. Though the data about nursing home deaths was widely available in 2020, Democrats often downplayed or ignored it. While Democrats have chosen to publicly condemn Cuomo for his interference with death toll reporting and lack of transparency when he has nothing to lose, their previous silence or even defense of his actions during the height of the pandemic may lead some voters to question their sincerity. For those who have long believed Cuomo’s policies contributed to unnecessary deaths, the belated criticism may seem more like an attempt to save face rather than a genuine reckoning with his failures.
