CNN
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Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is predicted to testify publicly earlier than Congress quickly, doubtless subsequent week, about his controversial nursing home advisory from the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, knowledgeable sources informed CNN.
Cuomo testified in June behind closed doorways earlier than members of the Home Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. The upcoming testimony can be in entrance of the identical panel.
A spokesperson for Cuomo confirmed Monday night time that the previous governor will testify September 10.
“The one query that must be answered continues to be being ignored: ‘Why did extra folks die from COVID in america than every other nation and the way will we ensure it by no means occurs once more?’ It’s Governor Cuomo’s pleasure to hitch the committee as soon as once more to attempt to get a solution,” stated Wealthy Azzopardi, Cuomo’s spokesperson.
The subcommittee had no remark Monday night time.
A 2021 investigation by New York Lawyer Common Letitia James, a Democrat, discovered that the New York State Division of Well being undercounted Covid-19 deaths amongst residents of nursing properties by roughly 50%, basically by leaving out deaths of residents who had been transferred to hospitals. A 2022 audit by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli concluded that Cuomo’s well being division did not report roughly 4,100 deaths between April 2020 and February 2021.
Cuomo has insisted that advisory was consistent with guidance from the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, the Ohio Republican who chairs the Home panel, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” in April that lawmakers wished to ask the Democratic former governor in regards to the March 2020 advisory, which barred nursing properties from rejecting sufferers solely on the premise of a Covid-19 analysis.
“I’m making an attempt to study why he would do one thing like this,” Wenstrup stated. “As a physician who has handled infections, it goes in opposition to all medical widespread sense to take somebody who was extremely contagious and put them amongst probably the most weak.”
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 11 ladies. Cuomo has denied the allegations.
CNN’s Mark Morales contributed to this report.