Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blamed former President Donald Trump on Tuesday for the COVID-19 chaos that enveloped the Empire State in early 2020, refusing in a combative Capitol Hill hearing to accept fault for thousands of seniors’ deaths in the weeks after he ordered nursing homes to readmit positive patients.
Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, pointed the finger at the GOP presidential nominee four years after he issued a state directive that resulted in still-positive persons returning to nursing homes, where older residents suffered greatly from the coronavirus.
Mr. Trump’s “lies and denials delayed our response, let the virus spread — and this country never caught up,” testified Mr. Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 because of sexual harassment allegations. “It was the COVID Hunger Games. The federal government was nowhere to be found.”
Republican leaders on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic said Mr. Cuomo’s attempt to shift blame rang hollow, citing former COVID-19 coordinator Deborah Birx and other former officials who said the New York order went beyond federal guidance.
“Governor, you own this. It’s your name on the letterhead,” subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup, Ohio Republican, said.
In a heated moment, Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican, told the former governor to turn around and apologize to families in the room.
Mr. Cuomo said the hearing wasn’t about “political theater.”
“There is a reason you are the former governor of New York state and you will never hold elected office again,” Ms. Stefanik said, sparking applause from some in the audience.
Mr. Cuomo rose to fame with daily coronavirus briefings. But his positive run turned to infamy by 2021 when he was dogged by harassment allegations and scrutiny of his nursing home policies.
His directive said nursing homes should accept residents who had or were suspected of having COVID-19, so long as they were medically stable. The region was clamoring for hospital space at the time.
“No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to the NH [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” the March 25, 2010, order said. “NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
Many facilities took it as a direct order and weren’t prepared, even as the virus tore through nursing homes, prompting withering criticism of the governor and an inquiry by the Trump Justice Department.
Mr. Cuomo changed his order two months later, prohibiting hospitals from discharging patients to nursing homes unless they tested negative for COVID-19.
Mr. Wenstrup balked at Mr. Cuomo’s claim he was following the federal government’s lead.
The chairman said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued non-binding guidance in 2020 that said nursing homes should not accept COVID-19 patients unless they were able to do so safely, meaning they were able to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention transmission-based guidance.
“Your advisory refers to itself in the language as a directive in the very first paragraph, with your name at the top, Governor Cuomo,” Mr. Wenstrup said. “Your directive uses words like ‘shall,’ ‘must’ and ‘prohibit.’”
Mr. Cuomo countered the panel by citing reports that said transmission in nursing homes was driven by infected staff and visitors, not readmissions from hospitals.
“No causality whatsoever,” Mr. Cuomo said. “All hype.”
Mr. Cuomo testified that Mr. Trump “weaponized” the Department of Justice by investigating state Democrats to shift the blame from his chaotic response in the early months of the pandemic.
Addressing victims’ families in the hearing room, he said: “I am sorry for your loss and I believe you are owed an apology because this country should have done better.”
Mr. Trump, who presided over the first year of the pandemic, says his administration did the best it could with a novel virus and prepared a vaccine in record time. Ultimately, more people died from COVID-19 during the Biden administration.
Democrats on the subcommittee echoed some of Mr. Cuomo’s criticism toward Mr. Trump, saying the lack of tests and protective equipment exacerbated the chaos around COVID-19. Yet they also pressed Mr. Cuomo over oddities in the way New York counted nursing home deaths from COVID-19.
New York Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released an audit in 2022 that found the state of New York undercounted the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by more than 4,000 from April 2020 to February 2021, with 13,147 deaths occurring but only 9,076 reported.
The discrepancy was largely because the Cuomo administration didn’t count deaths that occurred off facility grounds.
Mr. Cuomo testified that even if those who died outside the facility weren’t counted as nursing home deaths, the total number of deaths “was unchanged.”
Critics said it was odd not to count some nursing home deaths when the persons died at a hospital, since their infections were likely due to the spread of the virus within the nursing facilities.
Mr. Wenstrup scolded Mr. Cuomo, a 66-year-old rumored to be considering a political comeback, for suggesting the distinction did not matter, given the underlying directive.
“It’s a truth that matters,” Mr. Wenstrup said.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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