Monday marks the second round of testimonies related to the New York nursing home disaster. Over 6,000 people have died in New York nursing homes during the coronavirus outbreak. Gov. Andrew Cuomo blames President Trump and nursing home staffers. Most everyone else blames him.
Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean lost both of her in-laws in a New York nursing home, and she directly blames Cuomo's March 25 mandate that forced long term care facilities to accept COVID positive patients who had been discharged from the hospital. She knows more than most the damage it caused, and was eager to share her testimony. So she sent in her formal request last week.
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) August 10, 2020
Yet, as she revealed on Monday, just hours before the hearing, she was dropped from the list.
I was told over a week ago I would be welcome to testify at tomorrow's nursing home hearings in New York. A formal request was expected on Friday, but then all of a sudden I wasn't on the list anymore. The democrats didn't even have the decency to respond to me.
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) August 9, 2020
The New York Senate GOP was equally outraged.
The Democrat-controlled #nursinghome hearing is today.
— Candice Giove (@candicegiove) August 10, 2020
Democrat chairs @JamesSkoufis, @SRachelMay & @NYSenatorRivera LEFT OUT @JaniceDean who lost two family members & has become one of the most outspoken advocates for all families.
Shameful. https://t.co/reGZDxYdTp
Dean made one other observation. New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, whose testimony last week consisted largely of Cuomo talking points and non-answers, is a no show today. He couldn't even provide the panel a specific number of nursing home deaths.
The New York Department of Health recently put out a report that concluded Cuomo's nursing home order did not have a significant impact in terms of fatalities, choosing instead to blame family members and staffers who unknowingly brought the virus into the facilities.
As several witnesses at last week's hearing can attest, the policy did have an impact, particularly because of a lack of PPE.
"Given the lack of PPE in many facilities, it is very difficult to believe that adding more positive residents to a given facility did not contribute to more spread," John Dalli wrote.
Another witness, Frank Kolbmann, told Zucker in no uncertain terms that he is involved in "a disingenuous cosmetic attempt to cover up for your current boss’ immense crime."
Once again, Dean is calling for a real, independent investigation into how Cuomo's nursing home order led to such a tragic number of fatalities. Anything else, she said, is "a waste of time."
Since she's not able to testify, you can read about her in-laws' tragedy, and the governor's apparent role in it, here.