CNN’s KFile Reveals Gov. Cuomo Made Evasive, Deceptive Comments About Nursing Home Deaths as Far Back as Last Spring
A new report has taken an extensive look at how New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) allegedly altered data and downplayed the amount of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes during the first stages of the pandemic.
As Cuomo is facing an investigation into his alleged sexual harassment of numerous women, he remains enveloped in scandal over the charges that his administration seriously undercounted the number of people who died from Covid-19 in connection with his nursing home directive and then tried to cover it up. CNN’s KFile team conducted a review on Cuomo’s press conferences from the first few months of the pandemic, and they flagged numerous instances where the governor downplayed lags in nursing home data, deflected responsibility away from his administration, and argued that there was no singular person to blame for the situation.
The report points out that in April, there were multiple briefings where Cuomo was asked about the state’s antiquated Covid tracker and why it was taking so long to get data out of nursing homes. In one conference, Cuomo was asked if the state’s Department of Health failed to regulate the situation, and he denied that by responding “This is a crisis situation for nursing homes. They are under a lot of pressure. We understand that. Through no fault of their own.”
Another notable presser happened in May when Cuomo deflected responsibility away from himself while denying the possibility that some people might still be alive if different decisions were made.
Who is accountable for those 139 deaths? Well, how do we get justice for those families who had 139 deaths? What is justice? Who can we prosecute for those deaths? Nobody. Nobody. Mother nature. God..Look, people rationalize death in different ways. I don’t think there was any logical rationale to say they would be alive today. I said, from day one, the fear is we overwhelm the hospital system, and then people die, because we couldn’t get them the medical care.
Cuomo also addressed, at one point, the reason why it was taking so long to report the data — unwittingly acknowledging the gravity of the offenses for which he is now being investigated.
“You violate, you commit fraud, that is a criminal offense, period. So they can be prosecuted criminally for fraud on any of these reporting numbers,” he said.
Finally, there was one presser in which Cuomo was asked if his administration was “fudging the numbers” on nursing home data, and he retorted “no numbers were changed.” Cuomo also claimed his nursing home edict was a response to CDC guidelines under former President Donald Trump, plus he boasted about the state’s performance despite the death toll.
