New York lawmakers are calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to resign after a report from the state attorney general's office revealed that Cuomo's administration severely undercounted the number of COVID-related nursing home deaths. According to the report, the health department may have undercounted deaths by as much as 50 percent. That may be because New York was the only state with a major outbreak not to count individuals, who died from COVID after being transferred to the hospital, as a COVID nursing home death. As expected, Cuomo glossed right over the report at his Friday press conference - at one point, the governor went off on a tangent about how couples should get engaged on Valentine's Day - until Cuomo was forced to answer questions about the report during Q&A.
As you can see from the tweets below, he failed spectacularly. He essentially dismissed the report, trying to argue that New York's nursing home tragedy isn't as bad as Attorney General Letitia James's report made it seem.
.@NYGovCuomo: "A third of all deaths in this nation are from nursing homes.
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 29, 2021
New York state we're only about 28%, but we're below the national average...
But who cares — 33, 28, died in a hospital, died in a nursing home. They died."pic.twitter.com/owPLGKbdFI
.@NYGovCuomo says the deaths in nursing homes are a tragedy.
— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) January 29, 2021
“I understand the instinct to blame, or to find some relief for the pain that you’re feeling. But it is a tragedy.”
“I believe everybody did the best they could.”
"My father died — I wish I had someone to blame." pic.twitter.com/CgCsqkgddG
As always, Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean, who lost her in-laws to COVID in New York nursing homes, summed up today's spectacle nicely.
Worst. Governor. In. America.
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) January 29, 2021
The Biden administration has refused to comment on the growing scandal.