This browser does not support the Video element.
Cuomo defends actions
Gov. Andrew Cuomo accused the Trump Justice Department of playing 'toxic politics.' The governor is once again defending the choices he made in the early weeks of the pandemic regarding nursing homes.
NEW YORK - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is accusing the U.S. Department of Justice under President Trump of playing politics by starting a probe into nursing home deaths only in blue states.
"It was politics," Cuomo said. "It was toxic politics."
The DOJ, now under President Biden, just announced it would not open a civil rights investigation into government-run nursing homes in New York. Questions have been raised about whether New York inadvertently worsened the pandemic death toll by requiring nursing homes to accept residents previously hospitalized for COVID-19. In March 2020, Cuomo issued the order requiring nursing homes to readmit COVID patients.
The governor once again defended his choices at the time.
"We followed the CDC guidance when it came to how we handled people in nursing homes," Cuomo said.
Cuomo also tried to explain why it appears New York significantly underreported nursing home deaths. The CDC death toll for nursing homes is much higher than what the state recorded.
"There are two definitions. One is people who you actually know died of COVID — that's the number the state reports," Cuomo said. "CDC asks for actual deaths and presumed deaths of COVID. What does that mean, ‘presumed death’? That means the nursing home operator, the hospital operator wasn't sure but they said, ‘We presume they died of COVID.’"
Get breaking news alerts in the FOX 5 NY News app. Download for FREE!
New York Assembly Member Ron Kim has been a vocal critic of how the governor handled the nursing home deaths during the pandemic.
"We just want accountability of his bad decisions so we don't repeat the same mistakes going forward," Kim said.
Even though the DOJ dropped its probe, Kim said other investigations will turn up what he believes is the truth.
"We are not going to give up, we are not going away," Kim said. "We will hold this governor accountable."