CNN
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Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is about to testify publicly earlier than a GOP-led Home panel on Tuesday the place he’s anticipated to face questions over his dealing with of the pandemic throughout his time in workplace and Covid-era nursing residence coverage within the state.
The public listening to will supply a high-profile alternative for Republicans to grill the previous governor after he testified in June behind closed doorways earlier than members of the Home Choose Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Cuomo, a Democrat, has been out of workplace for a number of years, and it’s unclear what new data could emerge from the testimony. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the previous director of the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Ailments, testified on the pandemic at a contentious public listening to earlier than the identical subcommittee in June.
Cuomo was within the nationwide highlight early within the outbreak for his daily coronavirus briefings and passionate pleas for extra medical gear from the federal authorities, however later became a focus of controversy over deaths in nursing properties. The previous governor has defended his dealing with of the pandemic, saying that the state adopted federal pointers.
A spokesperson for Cuomo has confirmed that the previous governor will testify.
“The one query that must be answered remains to be being ignored: ‘Why did extra folks die from COVID in the USA than another nation and the way can we ensure that it by no means occurs once more?’ It’s Governor Cuomo’s pleasure to affix the committee as soon as once more to attempt to get a solution,” stated Wealthy Azzopardi, Cuomo’s spokesperson.
New York state’s dealing with of nursing properties and their residents during the pandemic has been a subject of scrutiny, notably after the state well being division issued a controversial advisory on March 25, 2020, regarding hospital discharges and nursing residence admissions.
The advisory acknowledged that residents should not be denied admission to nursing properties “solely based mostly on a confirmed or suspected analysis of COVID-19” and that nursing properties “are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is decided medically steady to be examined for COVID-19 previous to admission.”
In Could 2020, Cuomo announced an executive order requiring sufferers to check damaging for Covid-19 earlier than being discharged from a hospital to a nursing residence.
Cuomo has said that New York adopted federal pointers when sending coronavirus sufferers to nursing properties and that the advisory was consistent with guidance from the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers and the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Forward of Tuesday’s listening to, Republicans on the Home panel released a 48-page memo stating that Cuomo was “concerned within the choice that led to the March 25 Directive.”
The memo additional states that the directive “was not in line with relevant federal steering relating to hospital to nursing residence transfers and COVID-19 associated an infection management” and that the coverage in the end had “predictable however disastrous penalties.”
The memo additionally accuses the Cuomo administration of manipulating information, which hid the magnitude of nursing residence deaths, and claims that high advisers to the governor influenced a report by the Division of Well being as a way to shift the blame for the deaths of nursing residence residents.
As a part of its investigation, the subcommittee interviewed Cuomo and roughly 10 aides along with reviewing greater than 550,000 pages of paperwork.
Azzopardi, the Cuomo spokesperson, stated in a press release, “This MAGA Congressional Committee got here up brief on verifying the Large Lie they’ve been peddling for years: Its report doesn’t conclude there was any causality between the March twenty fifth DOH steering and deaths in nursing properties.” The assertion says that the declare of Cuomo’s involvement with the steering “not solely wasn’t supported by the testimony they cited,” however is “straight contradicted” by testimony from a former well being division official.
New York State Lawyer Basic Letitia James issued a report in 2021 discovering that the New York State Division of Well being undercounted Covid-19 deaths amongst nursing residence residents by roughly 50%. The New York well being division undercounted the variety of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes by hundreds throughout Cuomo’s time in workplace, an audit performed by state officers present in 2022.
Critics have argued that counting solely residents who died inside nursing properties whereas excluding residents who died in hospitals led to a a lot decrease depend of nursing residence deaths, which helped Cuomo painting New York as having a greater response to the pandemic than different components of the nation.
“Andrew Cuomo owes solutions to the 15,000 households who misplaced family members in New York’s nursing properties throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” Rep. Brad Wenstrup, an Ohio Republican who chairs the subcommittee and can also be a health care provider, said in a statement asserting that Cuomo would seem publicly earlier than the panel. “On September 10, Individuals may have the chance to listen to straight from the previous governor about New York’s probably deadly nursing residence insurance policies.”
Azzopardi stated within the assertion that the report reveals that “out-of-facility nursing residence tabulations have been initially withheld because of authentic considerations over accuracy.”
Cuomo has been investigated by the Division of Justice, Manhattan district lawyer, New York lawyer normal and the New York State Meeting, none of which introduced fees for his dealing with of the pandemic.
A launch from the committee asserting the memo additional states that present New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, additionally a Democrat, “has not been cooperative” with doc and data requests, and the panel is “contemplating subsequent steps,” together with “probably issuing a subpoena.”
The memo states that the New York State Government Chamber didn’t produce paperwork till February 2024, which it says was “greater than eight months after the unique request,” however notes that the panel “has since obtained three separate productions amounting to 373,999 paperwork.”
Cuomo was first elected governor in 2010 and served practically three full phrases earlier than he resigned in August 2021 following the discharge of a report by James’ workplace that found he had sexually harassed a number of ladies. Cuomo has denied the allegations.
CNN’s Paul LeBlanc, Annie Grayer and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.