New York Governor Andrew Cuomo dismissed questions regarding a nursing home scandal in his state, saying “nobody” can be prosecuted for those coronavirus deaths because “older people … are going to die from this crisis.”
Cuomo, despite being a media darling held up as an example of how to handle the pandemic, issued an order directing nursing homes to take in patients that had the highly contagious coronavirus.
“No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” the order from March 25th reads.
Cuomo failed to reverse this directive for six weeks.
It was a curious move, to say the least, considering the most vulnerable population has been the elderly. This particular action contributed to over 5,400 known deaths in New York nursing homes at this time.
“What would you say to families who have suffered losses inside nursing homes?” one reporter asked the Democrat governor. “And they’re looking for accountability. And they’d like to see justice.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo rationalizing:
“Older people, vulnerable people are going to die from this virus. That is going to happen despite whatever you do”
— James Hirsen (@thejimjams) May 18, 2020
RELATED: James Woods Starts #KillerCuomo Hashtag Criticising NY Governor
‘People Are Going to Die’
In an incredibly cold and callous reply, Cuomo snapped at the reporter for asking about grieving families seeking justice, insisting “nobody” would be prosecuted for the nursing home deaths.
“What is justice? Who can we prosecute for those deaths? Nobody. Nobody,” he rationalized. “Mother nature? God? Where did this virus come from? People are going to die by this virus.”
One could reasonably point the finger at the Governor himself.
Syracuse.com reports that “New York policy allowed nursing homes to accept positive Covid-19 patients back into nursing homes, some of which were not routinely testing staff and residents.”
How fast we went from “Grandma Killer” to “Grandmas were always going to die no matter what we did.”
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 17, 2020
Shrugs Off Older People Dying
Cuomo went on to defend his actions by saying he was trying to keep the hospital systems from being overwhelmed, a prediction that never came to fruition.
“Nobody was deprived of a bed or medical coverage in any way,” he insisted. “And still people died. Still, people died.”
“Older people, vulnerable people are going to die from this virus. That is going to happen despite whatever you do,” he continued.
“Because with all our progress as a society, we can’t keep everyone alive.”
Imagine if Trump Had Said This
The media went on a full-on blitzkrieg when President Trump and GOP lawmakers began suggesting the economy should be opened back up in America. They were accused of wanting to see senior citizens die.
Don’t believe us? Here’s MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough accusing Republicans seeking to rescue the American economy of wanting to “euthanize” senior citizens.
Where is Scarborough today regarding Cuomo’s blossoming scandal? Where is Mika Brzezinski nodding along with him in agreement, calling it “insanity”?
The New York Post explains Cuomo’s deadly actions and suggests people won’t speak up because they fear repercussions from the Governor:
Nursing-home executives, meanwhile, complain privately that Cuomo should have known his mandate would be a killer, but they were never consulted and got no notice before being swamped with infected patients. As one owner put it, long-time residents began “dropping like flies” soon afterward.
These same executives will not go public with their complaints because they fear Cuomo will punish them with fines and take their licenses.
Last week, conservative actor James Woods lambasted Cuomo over the nursing home scandal, spreading the hashtag #KillerCuomo.
“#KillerCuomo ruthlessly seeded vulnerable nursing homes with virus-ridden COVID19 carriers,” he wrote. “He undoubtedly would have catapulted plague-ridden corpses over castle walls during the Black Death and done so without moral compunction.”
The Post, meanwhile, suggests: “All the more reason why federal officials with nothing to fear must step in and find the facts. A designated US attorney … could use a grand jury to demand answers about why so many elderly people were put in harm’s way despite the warnings and simple common sense.”
Let them decide who is or isn’t prosecuted. Not Cuomo.
