During the entirety of 2020, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was the media’s love interest. The man could do no wrong. His Covid-19 plans and press conferences were top shelf. His battles with President Trump at the time were epic, and he almost succeeded in replacing Joe Biden as the 2020 Democratic nominee, at least in the minds of liberal opinion writers.
All of this came despite mounting evidence that Andrew Cuomo was directly responsible for policies that lead to tens of thousands of nursing home deaths in New York state, arguably unnecessary aside from Cuomo’s decision.
During the early days of the pandemic, and to cut down on statistics that looked bad, Cuomo’s team decided to send Covid-positive patients back to nursing homes instead of admitting them to a hospital. This created a situation where nursing homes were ill-equipped to deal with a viral airborne infection at the time, and the disease spread wildly among elderly populations.
Not only is this all provable, but reports in 2021, before Cuomo eventually resigned his office over sexual assault allegations, indicated that the Governor’s office lied about the nursing home deaths and attempted to cover up the numbers.
Now there are reports that the Manhattan District Attorney looking into Cuomo’s indiscretions has closed the case on the nursing home deaths with no charges:
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will not file criminal charges in connection with the handling of coronavirus deaths in New York nursing homes during the tenure of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, his representative said Monday.
Cuomo’s spokesman forwarded a statement from Elkan Abromowitz, an attorney who represented the governor’s office.
“I was contacted today by the head of the Elder Care Unit from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, who informed me they have closed its investigation involving the Executive Chamber and nursing homes,” the statement read. “I was told that after a thorough investigation – as we have said all along – there was no evidence to suggest that any laws were broken.”
As the New York Post noted on Monday, this news isn’t sitting well with families who lost loved ones at the hands of Cuomo’s order:
And word that Bragg has dropped the case against Cuomo infuriated family members who lost loved ones to COVID-19 while in long-term care facilities.
“Letting Cuomo off the hook is a bad way to start 2022,” said Vivian Zayas, co-founder of Voices For Seniors, whose mother, Ana Martinez, died of COVID while in a nursing rehab facility.
“Fifteen thousand people lost their lives in nursing homes. It doesn’t look like prosecutors are taking this seriously. They’re basically protecting Cuomo.
“We are disappointed in our judicial system.”
One of Cuomo’s most noteworthy critics is Janice Dean, who lost in-laws in a nursing home as a result of the governor’s order. Dean is also a Fox News personality and meteorologist, giving her a larger platform. If it wasn’t for her pressing the issue since 2020, Cuomo may still be governor today, which is not an exaggeration.
Dean reacted on Twitter to the news that Cuomo will avoid prosecution for the nursing home deaths, specifically calling out Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan DA who decided to drop the charges:
We won’t forget how you conveniently dropped charges against Andrew Cuomo just hours after being sworn into office. There are thousands of families still fighting for answers despite your negligence. https://t.co/pegfFB5LQe
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) January 4, 2022
Dean went on as well to cast doubt on any federal investigations since the Biden Justice Department has become nothing more than a political tool to protect Democrats:
His name is @AlvinBraggNYC if you’d like to file a complaint with the new DA’s office.
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) January 4, 2022
While Cuomo might avoid state charges over the deaths, there is still a federal probe lingering which some claim could be more damning unless the entire issue gets buried and dropped, which is also very possible:
Kim, chairman of the Assembly Aging Committee, said he considered the ongoing probes by federal prosecutors and AG James more serious threats to Cuomo than the Manhattan DA’s inquiry.
“Cuomo used his executive power to suppress nursing home deaths while chasing a $5.1 million book deal. Sooner or later the truth will come out,” Kim said.
The feds’ probe is still examining the Cuomo administration’s actions relating to the nursing homes and other long-term care facilities after thousands of their residents died from COVID-19.
The disdain and disgust with Andrew Cuomo now seem to cut across partisan lines. During most of 2020, and early 2021, Cuomo was still skating along with future presidential ambitions, and the defense of a willing media that hated Donald Trump.
Unfortunately, it took sexual harassment claims rather than tens of thousands of dead senior citizens to actually bring Andrew Cuomo down. That is an issue he still hasn’t faced judgment for but thousands upon thousands of families would like to see Cuomo held accountable for his decision that literally ended lives and put elderly citizens in long-term care facilities in immediate danger.
