NEW YORK CITY—New York City mayoral candidate and former governor Andrew Cuomo has responded to criticism from other candidates who banded together at a rally, calling for him to take responsibility for his alleged mishandling of COVID-19 policies at nursing homes during the pandemic.
On March 23, electoral candidates from the Democratic and the Republican parties gathered in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, to denounce Cuomo’s decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayoral candidates at the rally included Democratic runners Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Comptroller Brad Lander, Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, and former Comptroller Scott Stringer. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, and independent Jim Walden also attended.
In March 2020, a state executive order forced nursing homes to re-admit people with COVID-19, provided they were deemed medically stable, as a way to relieve the pressure facing hospitals. An audit, commissioned by Cuomo’s successor Gov. Kathy Hochul and carried out by the Olson Group, determined that between April 2020 and February 2021, 15,000 people died of COVID-19 in the nursing homes.
The Olson Group also found that between April 2020 and February 2021, Cuomo’s administration undercounted nursing home deaths during the pandemic by 4,100.
The report concluded that while the order and other policies related to nursing homes were “rushed and uncoordinated,” they “ultimately provided appropriate guidance that was consistent with universal best practices in congregate care and accurately reflected the best understanding of the scientific community at the time they were issued.”
