{"id":134746,"date":"2021-02-15T17:55:24","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T22:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=134746"},"modified":"2021-02-15T18:13:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T23:13:00","slug":"cuomo-blames-toxic-political-environment-amid-scandal-deaths-in-nursing-homes-accurately-reported","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cuomo-blames-toxic-political-environment-amid-scandal-deaths-in-nursing-homes-accurately-reported\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuomo Blames \u2018Toxic Political Environment\u2019 Amid Scandal: Deaths In Nursing Homes \u2018Accurately Reported\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcuomo-blames-toxic-political-environment-amid-scandal-deaths-in-nursing-homes-accurately-reported%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=134746&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Andrew-Cuomo-1-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo admitted on Monday that his administration should have supplied more information to the public and done so faster amid a growing scandal over how his administration handled nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn his first press conference since reports surfaced that his office underreported or withheld critical information on nursing home deaths during the coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo said all relevant information was \u2018fully, publicly and accurately reported,&#8217;\u201d Fox News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/new-york-gov-cuomo-admits-nursing-home-data-delay-was-a-mistake-created-void-for-conspiracy-theories\">reported<\/a>. \u201cWhen asked if he felt the need to apologize, the New York governor said his team\u2019s failure to publicly address concerns created a \u2018void\u2019 that allowed the spread of \u2018conspiracy theories.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At one point in the press conference, Cuomo <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/02\/15\/cuomo-fails-to-address-nursing-home-cover-up-admission\/\">said<\/a> that there was \u201cnothing to investigate\u201d in regards to a so-called cover-up that Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa allegedly confessed to during a talk with Democrat lawmakers in the state last week.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most controversial comments that Cuomo made during the press conference was that \u201call the deaths in the nursing homes and in the hospitals were always fully publicly and accurately reported.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe numbers were the numbers, always,\u201d Cuomo continued. \u201cPeople did request information beyond the place of death, not just where they how many in a nursing home, not just how many in a hospital. They did request different categorizations beyond those counts, how many people died, who were in a nursing home, but then went to a hospital? How many people died, who were in a hospital, but then went back to a nursing home? How do you count presumed COVID deaths? Everyone was busy. Everybody was here every day. We\u2019re in the midst of managing a pandemic. There was a delay in providing the press and the public all that additional information. There was a delay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cuomo\u2019s comments come after New York Attorney General Letitia James said last month that the number of deaths in nursing homes was undercounted by as much as 50 percent.<\/p>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cuomo with a \ud83d\udc56 on \ud83d\udd25 lie: &#8220;To be clear, all the deaths in the nursing homes and in the hospitals were always fully publicly and accurately reported. The numbers were the numbers always.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hf2TSkoGF2\">pic.twitter.com\/hf2TSkoGF2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CurtisHouck\/status\/1361409472707645445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><em>Below are some of the highlights from the press conference:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo are you really saying that this is sort of the creation of a toxic political environment that\u2019s existed for several years in this country?\u201d a reporter asked. \u201cAnd in this state?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook, is the environment toxic politically? Yes. Was this happening last year with this toxic political environment? Yes. And do I think that\u2019s part of the conspiracy theories that filled the void? Yes. And, look, I understand politics,\u201d Cuomo responded. \u201cI was critical of President Trump, I also worked with President Trump. I get how strong the feelings are on both sides. But when you\u2019re talking about loved ones dying in nursing homes, when you come up with conspiracy theories or this disinformation, then the worst thing you can say to somebody who lost a loved one is maybe it didn\u2019t have to be, maybe there was a government issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, we created the void. I agree to that. Or, and or we didn\u2019t constantly fight back every rumor or every piece of disinformation,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhich in this environment is a full time job. And that\u2019s what I want to do today. The people who lost the loved one. All these theories, March 25 memo did this. No, it didn\u2019t. The state numbers were wrong. No, they weren\u2019t. Well, that\u2019s how COVID got into a nursing home. No, it isn\u2019t. 613 nursing homes, 365 people, went back 98% of them have COVID already.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NY Governor Andrew Cuomo blames \u201cdisinformation,\u201d \u201ctoxic political environment\u201d for the undercounting of nursing home deaths<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MPEghli2a7\">https:\/\/t.co\/MPEghli2a7<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/y3ooj2jEa1\">pic.twitter.com\/y3ooj2jEa1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RNCResearch\/status\/1361425608203526145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAnd then the void in information that we created, started misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories and now people have to hear that and they don\u2019t know what is the truth,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cThe truth is everybody did everything they could. The truth is you had the best medical professionals and advice on the globe. The truth is, it was in the middle of a terrible pandemic. The truth is COVID attacks senior citizens. The truth is, with all we know, people still die in nursing homes. Today. People still die every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith testing the staff twice a week, there\u2019s no visitation, people still die,\u201d Cuomo continued. \u201cYou would have to hermetically seal a nursing home, they actually tried this in France, where the staff lived in the nursing home. Anybody can bring it in. A delivery man brings it in. The heating repairman brings it in. The food service brings it in. Staff person goes home, has, meets with their family, someone in the family has it, staff member comes back, the staff member brings it in. Even when you\u2019re testing twice a week, twice a week, you\u2019ll get people who have it and you\u2019ll miss them in the twice a week. That is the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cuomo affects a patronizing tone as he lectures the press about the inevitability of death in nursing homes: &#8220;People still die every day.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qPq0ZW2kp4\">pic.twitter.com\/qPq0ZW2kp4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomselliott\/status\/1361409270277754880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cDo you apologize for anything?\u201d a reporter asked Cuomo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApologize? Look, I have said repeatedly, we made a mistake in creating the void,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cWe made a mistake in creating the void. When we didn\u2019t provide information, it allowed press, people, cynics, politicians to fill the void. When you don\u2019t correct disinformation, you will allow it to continue. And we created the void. Not because people weren\u2019t working hard, Mike, because you know how hard people were working. And well, you should have prioritized providing more information. Yes, yes. In retrospect, we should have prioritized providing more information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI get the operational demand, I don\u2019t like to second guess my team. They were all working 24 hours a day. You know, remember where this was?\u201d Cuomo continued. \u201cYou\u2019re in the middle of hell during this time. But we no excuses, no excuses. We should not have created the void. We should have done a better job in providing information, we should have done a better job of knocking down the disinformation. You\u2019d never knocked down all these conspiracy theories, the political conspiracy theories because they generate 10 a day. But we should have done a better job of providing as much information as we could as quickly as we could. And we should have done a better job on that. Yes, and no excuses. I accept responsibility for that. I am in charge. I take responsibility. We should have provided more information faster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cuomo on whether he\u2019ll apologize for the mass death in N.Y. nursing homes: &#8220;I accept responsibility&#8221; for letting people wrongly think I did anything wrong <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YOMqnmjtRr\">pic.twitter.com\/YOMqnmjtRr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomselliott\/status\/1361418878555881473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re watching the TV every night and watching Italy collapse and people die because they can\u2019t get into a hospital,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cWe\u2019re watching China with a hospital capacity issue where they were building 1000s of new hospital beds. That\u2019s what was going on. That\u2019s why the CDC and that\u2019s why CMS made those decisions. And at the time, CDC, CMS, there were White House task forces. There were daily briefings. Everyone was focused on this issue. This was not a little issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the best minds were looking at it,\u201d he said. \u201cFact, of the 613 nursing homes, three, we have 613 nursing homes in the state, 365 received a person from a hospital. Of the 365 that received a person from this March 25 guidance, which was then superseded in May, 98% of those 365 already had COVID in their facility. COVID did not get into the nursing homes, by people coming from hospitals. COVID got into the nursing homes by staff walking into the nursing home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cuomo still blaming nursing home staff for Covid spreading after he sent Covid patients into their facilities:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCovid did not get into the nursing homes from people coming from the hospitals. Covid got into the nursing homes by staff\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aR1DbSHkH6\">pic.twitter.com\/aR1DbSHkH6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomselliott\/status\/1361406547025403909?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhat did we learn from this entire situation? What are we still learning? There are hospitals that perform well,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cAnd there are hospitals that performed less well. We still see hospitals performing less well. When you look at those vaccination numbers, hospitals with the same demographics of workforce, in the same region, with different vaccination rates of their staff, that\u2019s indicia of performance of those hospitals. There are nursing homes that performed well. And we\u2019re not nursing homes that that did not perform as well. We have to learn from it. And we have to correct it before we have another surge and another pandemic. And by the way, we are going to have another pandemic. As I sit here, I would plan on it. And yes, this was never seen before. And yes, hospitals had to deal with something they never had seen before. And yes, nursing homes had to deal with something they had never seen before. But they will see it again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd now we have to learn from it. before it happens, again,\u201d he continued. \u201cOur focus, I believe, is going to be on the for profit nursing homes, hospitals, low performing hospitals, but also in the for profit nursing homes. I have long believed that there\u2019s a tension in a for profit nursing home, because those institutions are trying to make money. If you\u2019re trying to make profit, it\u2019s too easy to sacrifice patient care, everything becomes one or the other. Do you want to hire more staff? Or do you want to make more profit? Do you want to buy more PPE and stockpile more PPE? Or do you want to make more profit? Do you want to buy new equipment, new beds, new sheets, new furniture, invest in the facility or do you want to make more profit? That tension is a problem. And that has to be resolved legislatively because I don\u2019t want to leave it to these folks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cuomo, on his nursing home deaths scandal, says the problem is \u201cfor-profit nursing homes\u201d that don\u2019t invest enough in patient care, vows legislative action <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/200pNuvz4R\">pic.twitter.com\/200pNuvz4R<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomselliott\/status\/1361407846584377346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cReal quick on on the nursing home data, was there not the capacity in DOH to fulfill both the DOJ request and the legislature\u2019s request at the same time?\u201d a reporter asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey focused on the DOJ request. You know, Steve, they were dealing with everything at the time,\u201d Cuomo responded. \u201cRemember, when you wake up in the morning, job one for the past year has been dealing with the crisis of the moment. Right. Dealing with whatever the issue is today\u2019s variants of interest. Today, it\u2019s sorting out the vaccination system. Every day it has been something and that was given priority. In retrospect, should we have given more priority to fulfilling information requests? In my opinion? Yes, yes. And I think that\u2019s what created the void. But do I understand the pressure that everybody was under? Yes, I understand that also. It\u2019s not like people were in the south of France, right? It\u2019s not like people were on vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cuomo blames the \u201cpressure\u201d his staff was under for covering up nursing home deaths; \u201cdo I understand the pressure everybody was under? Yes \u2026 it\u2019s not like people were in the south of France&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HVs7Vc14MQ\">pic.twitter.com\/HVs7Vc14MQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tomselliott\/status\/1361411909212372994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em><span>member<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span>.&nbsp;<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo admitted on Monday that his administration should have supplied more information to the public and done so faster amid a growing scandal over how &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2181316,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Andrew-Cuomo-1-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Cuomo Blames \u2018Toxic Political Environment\u2019 Amid Scandal: Deaths In Nursing Homes \u2018Accurately Reported\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Andrew-Cuomo-1-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Cuomo Blames \u2018Toxic Political Environment\u2019 Amid Scandal: Deaths In Nursing Homes \u2018Accurately Reported\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2181316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}