New York's Cuomo deems controversial nursing home order 'smart'

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An ever-defiant Gov. Andrew Cuomo labeled as "smart" his March 25th nursing home mandate that landed him at the center of a federal investigation. 

The remarks came in a portion of COVID-19 briefing Wednesday in which the New York governor laid blame on Republicans for politicizing health decisions. 

"A health order that was put out by the State Department of Health on March 25th, which was from a medical point of view, smart," Cuomo said. 

"They wanted to blame nursing home deaths on that order. They then wanted to blame a report that clearly said how COVID got into nursing homes had nothing to do with March 25th. They've taken every attempt to politicize it and blame Democratic states. They then not only politicized that, they tried to criminalize it," Cuomo said, referring to investigations by the FBI and a U.S. attorney into whether his aides gave false information on coronavirus nursing home deaths. 

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Cuomo is also facing an impeachment inquiry for his handling of nursing homes and sexual harassment claims, and an investigation led by state attorney general Letitia James. 

"They've continued to politicize it because they don't want to accept responsibility for what happened," Cuomo said of Republicans. "They're still in denial. They're still pointing fingers. They've learned absolutely nothing. And when you politicize public health and medical decisions, you are on a very dangerous course, my friend." 

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Cuomo’s March 2020 order required nursing homes to take in COVID-19-positive patients if it was determined they could care for them in order to free up space in hospitals. The controversial order was rescinded in May 2020. James’ office revealed in January that the New York State Department of Health undercounted nursing home deaths by as much as 50% by not counting nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 in hospitals rather than on site. 

In March, a New York Times report revealed that Cuomo looked to cash in with his book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic," only four days after aides allegedly covered up nursing home data in the Empire State.

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Cuomo’s most senior aides rewrote a report originally written by state health officials to remove a reference to 9,000 nursing home deaths "just as Mr. Cuomo was starting to write a book on his pandemic achievements," the Times reported.