Gov. Andrew Cuomo blames everyone but himself for the thousands of COVID-related fatalities in New York these past several months. A heartbreaking number of those deaths occurred in nursing homes. We've documented the nursing home tragedy time and again here at Townhall, and how Cuomo's March 25 mandate likely played a significant factor in it. On that day, Cuomo ordered facilities to accept COVID patients if they had the resources to do so. For many family members who lost loved ones in New York elder care, it's a no-brainer that Cuomo's dangerous order killed.
But he and his administration deny it and have chosen to point fingers at President Trump, nursing home staffers or family members that caused the high rate of infections, not the mandate.
And now he's come full circle in blaming President Trump.
"I hold Donald Trump responsible for every death in New York from COVID," Cuomo said at his Tuesday press conference in Albany. "Because Trump lied. He lied. And in combination with his lies, he was incompetent. It was his lie that said this was nothing to worry about. Trump was patient zero in the United States."
He later referred to Trump as "the super spreader that brought the virus to America."
Cuomo has also recently blamed Trump's rhetoric for the negative economic impact on his state. For instance, while the country as a whole lost 6 percent of manufacturing jobs, New York City lost 19.5 percent. In the hotel and restaurant industry, the U.S. tallied a 22 percent job loss, compared to a blistering 49 percent in New York City.
If the president hadn't been so focused on China and had enacted a European travel ban earlier, Cuomo argued, those numbers may not have been so high.
Gov. @andrewcuomo blames the term "China virus" for the restrictions he's imposed on New York that have devastated the state's economy pic.twitter.com/4iR2yBpaqk
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 19, 2020
Instead of providing real answers about the nursing home tragedy, Gov. Cuomo opted instead to write a book about his leadership during the pandemic. The ongoing pandemic.
The Cuomo administration often cites an internal New York Department of Health study that concluded the nursing home mandate had little impact on the death rate. Critics and grieving loved ones have been calling for an independent probe.