Politics

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Trump spar over blame in New York nursing home deaths

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PHOTO CREDITS: SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

On Wednesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo stated that President Trump is creating a “narrative that is factually untrue” in response to comments by the President that Cuomo is to blame for large numbers of nursing home deaths in his state. 

According to the interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo commented on Trump’s comments for “giving off the “impression” that he is to blame for the large number of nursing home deaths amid the coronavirus pandemic in his state, adding that what Trump has done is “reprehensible” and “cruel” (Breitbart).

Cuomo’s state policy was to send COVID patients to nursing homes and told Joe, “There was never a directive that said we will send COVID-positive people back to nursing homes… The directive which was modeled on the federal directive said you cannot discriminate. But the state law clearly says a nursing home can’t accept the person unless they can treat them.” He then expressed to Joe how discontented he was with how Trump has presented the information. “One of the things I find reprehensible about it, Willie, is the president did create that impression, which is cruel…It’s cruel. It’s cruel to say to the families who lost people in nursing homes, ‘Well, this could have been prevented by a different government policy.’ It makes their pain worse. It is not true..”

In July 2020, AP News reported that 6,300 infected patients were sent into nursing homes in the state of New York. This policy was widely and heavily critiqued and was later scrapped, though state officials argued that the policy was not the reason for the highest death toll of nursing home patients. The Associated Press conducted a count that found that hospitals all around the state released more than 4,500 recovering COVID patients to nursing homes. This was done in compliance with Cuomo’s directive that would make it illegal for nursing homes to discriminate against patients who had or may have had COVID. The directive was ultimately reversed on May 10th.

ARTICLE: YULIANIE HERNANDEZ

POLITICS EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE

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