Truth must transcend ego
By a wide margin, New Yorkers tell pollsters that they think Gov. Andrew Cuomo has done a good job of handling the complicated crisis presented by the coronavirus. As the pandemic continues to ravage much of the country, New York now has one of the nation’s lowest infection rates. In a state that was the pandemic’s epicenter so recently, that is no small matter.
Yet New York’s success at flattening the curve does not mean Mr. Cuomo and his administration avoided crucial mistakes along the way. Nor does it mean those mistakes should be dismissed or ignored.
Consider the much-debated Department of Health order requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients. Critics contend that the March 25 directive, since abandoned, was a key reason the virus swept through nursing home communities. More than 6,000 nursing home residents died statewide.
Mr. Cuomo sees the criticism as
politically motivated. His Department of Health quickly mustered a report, released last week, that absolves the state of responsibility. It says nursing home employees primarily introduced the virus to the facilities.
That may be so. But there are valid reasons to question the independence of the report and its remarkably definitive conclusions. Further, questions have been raised about how New York is choosing to count COVID-19 deaths. It seems likely the state is significantly undercounting the nursing home toll.
For those reasons, among others, the DOH report shouldn’t be the final word on the nursing home order, nor on the totality of New York’s coronavirus response. It’s up to state legislators to undertake a truly independent review.
Why has New York experienced nearly twice as many deaths as any other state? Did Mr. Cuomo wait too long before imposing lockdowns? Would early quarantines for select regions of the state, New York City in particular, have prevented spread?
And, yes, did the nursing home mandate cause preventable tragedy?
Those questions must be answered without concern for gubernatorial ego. This isn’t about politics or partisanship. A thorough review can identify mistakes and successes in the state’s fight against the coronavirus.
After all, New York is surely not out of the woods yet. It is possible, perhaps likely, that the state will face a second wave of infections, and mistakes not identified could be repeated. Since we will be living with the coronavirus for a long time, it isn’t an exaggeration to suggest that lives are at stake.
It is encouraging that there are state lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, who are calling for a thorough investigation into New York’s coronavirus response, including the order affecting nursing homes.
The onus is on Mr. Cuomo, then, to let them undertake the work, without interference.