Gov. Cuomo Passes the Buck on Report Finding Nursing Home Deaths Undercounted: ‘Go Talk to the Federal Government’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) advised reporters to blame someone else for nursing home deaths in his state, pointing to the federal government and to God.

“What I would say is, everyone did the best they could,” Cuomo said at a Friday press briefing in Albany. “When I say the state department of health is — as the report said, followed federal guidance, so if you think there was a mistake, then go talk to the federal government. It’s not about pointing fingers or blame. This became a political football. Whether a person died in the hospital or died in the nursing home, it’s — people died. People died.”

Beginning in April, New York’s health department briefly instructed nursing home facilities in the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic to accept patients who had tested positive for the virus, with Cuomo citing Centers for Disease Control guidance that advised facilities to accept patients for whom they are able to care.

Seema Verma, then the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator charged with overseeing the nation’s nursing homes, denied at the time that Cuomo had interpreted the guidance properly.  New York’s health department issued new guidance on May 11 — after thousands had died — instructing care facilities to ensure patients tested negative for the virus before being admitted.

A 76-page report by New York Attorney General Letitia James — a Democrat — infused fresh life into the controversy on Thursday, finding that Cuomo’s administration undercounted pandemic-related deaths in nursing homes by up to 50 percent, attributing them instead to other facilities. The health department reclassified more than 3,800 deaths the same day, effectively acknowledging an undercount of more than 40 percent.

“I understand the pain,” Cuomo said at his press conference. “I understand the search for answers. But it was a tragedy, and I feel the anguish and I feel the pain. And I get the anger. My father died. I wish I had someone to blame. It would have made me feel better, maybe. But they are in my thoughts and prayers. I believe — why covid? Why did God do this? I don’t know. I don’t know. But it was cruel and it was terrible and it still is.”

Watch above via Fox News.