CUOMO DEFLECTS THE ‘HEAT’

Gripes over nursing-home furor

Gov. Cuomo complained on Sunday about the “political heat” he has faced over coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, and claimed the facilities are now safer for seniors than staying at home.

“I’ve taken political heat, OK? There are facts, and there’s politics,” Cuomo said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” as he responded to criticism over his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in nursing homes and long-term care centers across the state.

“In New York, we’re number 46 in the nation in terms of percentage of deaths at nursing homes compared to the total percentage,” Cuomo added, citing an analysis of states’ data by The New York Times.

“If they want to point fingers, not at New York. We’re number 46. You have 45 other states to point fingers at first.”

New York state has recorded 6,250 COVID-19-related nursing-home deaths, but a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers has said that number might be much higher.

It is also almost impossible to accurately determine a death toll because New York facilities do not have to report their number of positive cases, just deaths, the Times pointed out in its analysis.

Cuomo has faced criticism for issuing a March order that prohibited nursing homes from turning away coronavirus patients released from hospitals.

The order, which Cuomo has said was in line with federal guidelines, has been blamed for the spread in nursing homes. He partially repealed it in May.

On “Meet the Press” Sunday, Cuomo insisted that nursing homes are now safe.

“We’re testing every week every nursinghome employee,” he said. “So you could argue that they are safer than a senior citizen at home, who is receiving care at home.”

Cuomo also heralded the latest figures for New York. Just five coronavirus deaths were reported in the state on Saturday, while hospitalizations dropped below 800.

But he said the surge in cases in other states could erase New York’s progress.

“If these states keep going up, we’re going to have a national crisis like we have never seen,” he said. “I’m afraid the infection rate in the other states will come back to New York and raise that rate again.”

A resurgence could delay the planned reopening of schools in the fall, Cuomo said.

“We have plans to open schools. But . . . it’s two months away. Anything can happen in two months,” he said. “If this continues across the country . . . kids are going to be home for a long time.”

He blamed President Trump and the administration for being “basically in denial,” adding, “They don’t want to tell the American people the truth.”

“This is a virus,” he said. “It doesn’t respond to politics. You can’t tweet at it; you have to treat it.”