27 October 2023: Cuomo Acknowledges Motive for Dumping COVID Patients Into Nursing Homes

Bill Maher confronts Cuomo on nursing home scandal, ex-NY gov calls questions 'Monday morning quarterbacking'

Andrew M. Cuomo, the resigned-in-disgrace former governor of New York, finally acknowledged the motive behind his deadly 25 March 2020 directive, which forced nursing homes in New York to accept COVID patients being discharged from hospitals without testing to verify if they might still be contagious. The following excerpt presents a discussion that occurred between HBO Real Time host Bill Maher and Cuomo on the topic on 27 October 2023.

During Friday's "Overtime" segment on YouTube, Maher read a viewer question posed to Cuomo asking whether he would have done anything differently during COVID.

"So you allowed people who had been in the hospital – older people, from a nursing home, now they go to the hospital to go back into the nursing home without testing them," Maher said. "ProPublica says you were the only state to do it without testing them when they went back into the nursing home. And that's what caused the death in the nursing homes. Is that true?

"No, the short answer is no." Cuomo responded. "First, this is Monday morning quarterbacking by which I could make the New York Jets champion, right, if we're gonna do this. When COVID started, it was – all of the disinformation was amazing, right? It was coming from China, wet market, zootrophic virus, it was going to California and the state of Washington so we banned travel to China, from China. It turned out that China had already spread it to Europe. All the European flights were coming to New York, JFK. So it had been here for months and it was astronomical. When we first found out about it… they were projecting we would need 150,000 hospital beds to deal with the number of infected, we only had 50,000 in the entire state of New York."

"You did it to free up beds," Maher said.

"We were afraid of losing hospital beds," Cuomo said, "but people who were in hospitals who were considered medically stable, who were tested, were sent to nursing homes if the nursing home said they could treat that person in a way that protects the other people in the nursing home. And that was a way to make sure we had enough hospital beds.

Here's a video excerpt of the interview:

The full interview also covers the sexual harassment allegations that were used to successfully force Cuomo to give up his powerful position as New York's state governor. That portion of the interview has drawn greater attention in the media.

This entry was entered into the timeline on 24 November 2023.

26 October 2023: NCPR Interview with Melissa DeRosa

Former Cuomo aide talks NY COVID response, thoughts on Hochul in new memoir

North Country Public Radio's Karen DeWitt interviewed Melissa DeRosa, the former Secretary to the Governor of the State of New York, who served under the resigned-in-disgrace Andrew M. Cuomo while he governed the state. In that role, she was among the most powerful officials within New York's state government and was the first official within that administration to acknowledge its attempted cover-up of the excess nursing home deaths that resulted from Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive.

In this interview, which came in connection with the promotion of her recent book, she goes a bit farther in acknowledging the devastating impact of that policy. Here's what NCPR calls a "lightly edited" portion of the transcript:

KAREN DeWITT: You present a defense of the March 25, 2020 nursing home policy. It became kind of an infamous decision to allow hospitalized COVID-positive nursing home residents to go back into the nursing homes. And you also talked about the report by Attorney General Tish James that said you undercounted the deaths by 50%. You present a defense of that, but I wonder, in retrospect, do you think that if you and the governor had maybe just apologized for that decision, instead of kind of doubling down on it, maybe it would have played out differently politically?

MELISSA DeROSA: I don't mean to try to present a defense of it in the book. My intention was to try to explain it to people: what it was, what happened, what was going on around us. I think that, particularly as it related to nursing homes, and the weaponization and the politicization of what happened around nursing homes, combined with the very real pain of the families who lost loved ones, it just became this political football that it never should have been. And looking back, if I knew then what I knew today, I would do a lot of things differently. But my heart goes out to people who lost loved ones in nursing homes. As I write in the book, you know, every decision that was being made was done with the best possible intent with the information that we had at the time.

As as a reminder, the decision was to force patients known to have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to be accepted into nursing homes, where the portion of the state's population known to be the most vulnerable to dying from a COVID-19 lived, including many that had no confirmed or suspected cases at the time the decision was made, in order to free up bed space at New York's hospitals.

Not only was that policy was immediately flagged for its disastrous potential when it was announced and implemented, Governor Cuomo's own statements in the days preceding it confirm that both he and his adminstration knew it was virtually guaranteed to have disastrous consequences.

This entry was added to the timeline on 28 October 2023.

19 October 2023: Lessons from a 20-20 Hindsight View of 2020's Coronavirus Pandemic

This timeline entry was added on 21 October 2023. It discusses analysis produced by the Empire Center's Bill Hammond in August 2023 that helps explain why Cuomo's policy choices proved to be unnecessarily disastrous. It was originally featured at Political Calculations.

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How different would New York City's experience during the first wave of 2020's coronavirus pandemic have been if public officials had better and more timely information about how many people were really being infected by it?

That's a fascinating question raised by the Empire Center's Bill Hammond's retrospective analysis of the pandemic's impact in New York. In that analysis, Hammond features a chart comparing the information public officials had on the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's improved estimates of how extensive coronavirus infections likely were in reality in early 2020. Here's a slightly modified* interactive version of the chart:

Compared with the official count produced by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) in early 2020, COVID-19 infections were much more numerous and peaked much earlier in the IHME's improved estimates Hammond describes what the chart shows:

As seen in Figure 1, the state’s outbreak likely began by early February, a full month before its first laboratory-confirmed case [2]. The estimated number of infections soared to more than 60,000 per day on March 19, which was six times higher and three weeks earlier than shown by the state’s testing data.

A second attempt to model the first wave of New York’s pandemic estimated that it began on Jan. 19 and reached a peak infection rate of almost 100,000 per day on March 24 [3]. These estimates indicate that the curve had already begun to bend – that is, the rate of increase had begun to slow – before Cuomo issued his stay-at-home order effective March 22 – likely because individuals and businesses were spontaneously limiting their activities in reaction to official warnings and news coverage.

Hammond explains how better knowledge of the true picture for the spread of COVID-19 infections could have shaped the response of both New York's governor and the state's public health officials:

The virus’s rapid spread in February and early March of 2020 shows the importance of detecting outbreaks early and responding quickly. If officials had become aware of this surge even a week or two sooner – and notified the public – they almost certainly could have avoided swamping hospitals and saved thousands of lives.

If they had merely known when the wave reached its peak, they might have avoided mistakes in late March.

For example, Cuomo and his administration would have had less cause to worry about a looming shortage of hospital capacity. They could have avoided spending time and money to build emergency hospital facilities that went largely unused. And they might never have issued the March 25 directive transferring Covid-positive patients into nursing homes – a decision that likely added to the high death rate in those facilities and contributed to Cuomo’s political downfall. [6]

Here's an example of the official data and modeled projections they did have in early 2020. The following chart is taken from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)'s 25 March 2020 projections showing its estimates of the minimum, likely, and maximum number of additional hospital beds that would be needed in the state of New York to care for the model's expected surge of coronavirus patients.

This chart presents just one of several coronavirus models whose projections were being combined and presented to Governor Cuomo by consultants from McKinsey & Co. to assist their ad hoc public health policy making. Had New York state government officials instead known the daily number of new COVID-19 infections had already passed its peak, they almost certainly would not have reached the point of panic they did. Panic that resulted in their creating one of the worse public health outcomes in U.S. history.

Unlike those now mostly-former New York state officials, the IHME is at least learning from its mistakes in modeling 2020's coronavirus pandemic.

Previously on Political Calculations

• Governor Cuomo and the Coronavirus Models
• Coronavirus Deaths and Nursing Home Admission Policies
• The Biggest Math Story of 2020
• Visualizing ICL's Pandemic Model's Failures

References

Hammond, Bill. Behind the Curve: The Extreme Severity of New York City's First Pandemic Wave. Empire Center. [PDF Document]. 30 August 2023.

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. COVID-19 estimate downloads. March 25, 2020. [ZIP folder]. Accessed 15 October 2023.

Footnotes from Behind the Curve

[2] https://www.healthdata.org/covid/data-downloads.

[3] David García-García et al., “Identification of the first COVID-19 infections in the US using a retrospective analysis (REMEDID),” Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Vol. 42, August 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S1877584522000405#fig0001.

[6] For more on the Cuomo administration’s handling of the pandemic in nursing homes, see the Empire Center’s August 2021 report, “ ‘Like Fire Through Dry Grass’: Documenting the Cuomo Administration’s Cover-up of a Nursing Home Nightmare.” https://www.empirecenter.org/publications/like-fire-through-dry-grass/

Other Notes

* We altered the dimensions of the chart and the line thickness for the IHME estimate of infections. We also added the options for downloading a copy of the chart and sharing it on social media.

17 October 2023: Cuomo Legal Probe Cost to NY Taxpayers at $20 Million and Rising

Taxpayers on hook for at least $20M from Cuomo investigations

Multiple federal, state, and local criminal and civil investigations into resigned-in-disgrace former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals, book deal, and the sexual harassment allegations that were used to force him from office have cost New York taxpayers over $20 million. But how much more than $20 million remains to be answered because the legal bills are still rising.

Here's the introduction from Brendan J. Lyons' coverage in the Albany Times-Union:

The myriad state and federal investigations of Andrew M. Cuomo and his administration have cost taxpayers at least $20 million in legal fees — expenses that continue to mount as the former governor defends himself in two sexual harassment lawsuits as well as an ongoing court battle over his lucrative deal to publish a book about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The article also provides the following information related to Cuomo's cost of defending himself from criminal charges stemming from Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals, which are a consequence of Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive:

Cuomo's legal expenses began to mount in March 2021 when the then-governor hired the white-collar law firm Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello to represent his administration in a now-dormant investigation by the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office that examined, in part, the actions of Cuomo’s coronavirus task force in its handling of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the pandemic. Cuomo hired the firm a month after the Times Union reported the administration was the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.

That probe, which focused on the work of some of the senior members of the governor’s task force, resulted in no charges. The Morvillo Abramowitz firm has been paid more than $2.5 million for its work, which included responding to the Justice Department’s investigation that had also examined whether Cuomo’s administration had given false information about the number of nursing home deaths tied to COVID-19 in what critics charged was an attempt to buttress his book deal.

We'll interject at this point to note the responsibility for the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to not press criminal charges against Cuomo lies with the Biden administration. Cuomo is a close friend and political ally of President Biden. The administration's strange choice to let Cuomo escape facing any federal criminal charges in 2021 was an early indication of how it would approach criminal allegations against those closely linked to President Biden.

The next part of the article recaps Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals, including his administration's attempted cover-up of the excess deaths that resulted:

Nearly three weeks after the governor’s task force was announced in 2020, the state health department issued an order directing nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to admit residents who were being discharged from hospitals even if they were still testing positive for the infectious disease, as long as the facilities were able to care for them properly.

That directive, which was rescinded less than two months later, became the focus of a firestorm of criticism directed at Cuomo’s administration, including allegations that the order — which the governor said was based on federal guidance — had contributed to the high number of fatalities of nursing home residents in New York. That assertion was largely dismissed in a July 2020 report released by the state Department of Health, which asserted the spread in those facilities was the result of infected staff members.

In January 2021, the office of Attorney General Letitia James issued a scathing report that concluded his administration’s directives may have increased the risk of COVID-19 infections at congregate facilities such as nursing homes. The report found the administration had deliberately delayed reporting that thousands of additional nursing home residents died at hospitals after being infected in their residential facilities.

Cuomo later stopped short of apologizing for his administration’s handling of the fatality data, though he conceded they had created a “void” by not providing the accurate information requested by state lawmakers. His office said some of the blame for that stonewalling was due to what they claimed was a politically motivated civil inquiry by the Justice Department.

Through 17 October 2023, Cuomo has failed to apologize for his nursing home deaths scandals.

Perhaps the greater shame however belongs to New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who declined to prosecute Cuomo under New York state law in any of Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals. Or for that matter, the sexual harassment allegations she raised.

16 October 2023: Continuing Probes Into Cuomo's Nursing Home Deaths Scandals

Q&A: Ron Kim’s latest update on nursing home deaths investigation

NY Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) has been almost alone in pursuing consequences for the aftermath of Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and the impact it had on nursing homes throughout the state of New York. In this interview with City & State's Austin C. Jefferson, he gave the following answers to questions about the U.S. House's probe of the excess deaths that resulted and of his own probe into them:

What did you think of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic signaling that it might subpoena former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the nursing home deaths?

There has to be accountability. I’ve always said that. Resignation doesn’t equal accountability, and executive leaders that made unilateral decisions, regardless of whether it was with the best intent or not. If the outcome was bad and especially when it involves something unique like this that is linked to a multimillion-dollar book deal and a motive to hide, he shouldn’t have pulled data and information from lawmakers and the public. We need to shed as much light (as possible) so we don’t repeat the same mistake in the future.

Speaking of shedding more light, how is your investigation into the nursing home deaths progressing?

Yeah, we’re fully working with the subcommittee at the federal level. I know that they’ve already had a hearing on the COVID response, and I think they’ll continue to investigate this matter. I’m looking forward to the new administration fulfilling their word that there will be a thorough investigation.

I look forward to making sure that they can produce an independent report and our new chair of the Health Committee is also committed to doing a thorough investigative hearing as well, and that’s something that I’m brokering as we speak with the families and the new chair of the Health Committee to see what we can do going into the new session and providing more transparency into what happened.

What do you think that report might say?

We want to get as much of the unbiased, independent input centered around the families and the workers on the ground that saw the truth. None of the hearings really reflected on what really happened on the ground versus what we heard through the skewed data that we received in the back end.

I think once we do a thorough report, we will see the disconnect in terms of what was reported and the narrative that they tried to control versus what we saw on the ground, which is a total neglect of the most vulnerable population at a time when everyone should have been hands-on in protecting and figuring out a solution to isolate and giving these individuals and giving their families the option to take them home.

Oh, and none of them were properly administered during that period. I think the report will indicate a system that sorely lacks the public administrative capacity to take care of older adults in emergency times, and it will call for a rebuilding of public ability to take care of our most vulnerable population.

This entry for the timeline was posted on 21 October 2023.

10 October 2023: House COVID Panel Threatens to Subpoena Cuomo Over Nursing Homes Scandals

House COVID panel threatens Cuomo subpoena for nursing home scandal records

There's finally some progress in the U.S. Congress among members of the House of Representatives seeking to probe the resigned-in-disgrace former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and attempted cover-up of the extent of deaths that resulted, to name just two of Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is weighing a subpoena of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he snubs their final request for records about his decision to place COVID-infected patients in nursing homes and long-term care facilities at the onset of the outbreak.

Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) threatened in a Tuesday letter to “evaluate” compulsory measures if Cuomo failed to produce documents about his administration’s COVID policies by Oct. 17, according to a copy of the missive exclusively obtained by The Post.

“To date, we have not received a single document from you. The Select Subcommittee is comprised of physicians from both sides of the aisle and members who take our responsibilities seriously,” Wenstrup wrote to the former governor.

“Contrary to your and your spokesman’s unfortunate statements, this investigation is the result of your clearly medically misguided decision to expose New York’s most vulnerable to COVID-19 by issuing the ‘must admit’ orders, which had predic[t]able but deadly consequences for 15,000 nursing home residents,” he added.

“Any attempt to cover up the truth and conceal culpability is not acceptable to the American people. The Select Subcommittee is committed to a transparent investigation and expects you to be forthcoming during this process.”

Cuomo's not the only governor who is being asked to provide these records to the House committee:

Similar records requests were also sent to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose responses are now being evaluated by the select subcommittee, according to a spokeswoman.

In our view, subpoenas to compel testimony are necessary. They may need to be directed to more former New York State officials than Andrew M. Cuomo.

2 October 2023: Judge Drops Cuomo Aides DeRosa, Azzopardi from Trooper's Sex Harassment Lawsuit

Judge drops top Cuomo aides from trooper's sex harassment case

The federal judge hearing the sexual harassment lawsuit of female "Trooper 1" against the resigned-in-disgrace former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has acted to remove Cuomo aides Melissa DeRosa and Richard Azzopardi from the lawsuit. Here's an excerpt of Brandon J. Lyons coverage in the Albany Times-Union:

A federal judge has dismissed two of Andrew M. Cuomo’s top former aides as defendants in a lawsuit filed by a State Police investigator who accused the former governor of sexually harassment and inappropriate touching while she was assigned to his protective detail.

Former Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and Richard Azzopardi, a former senior advisor who remains a spokesman for Cuomo, were accused in the lawsuit of aiding and abetting Cuomo’s alleged misconduct and retaliating against the female trooper.

U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall said she will issue a written order in the coming days explaining her decision to dismiss the investigator's claims against the former aides.

It is one of two federal lawsuits filed against Cuomo in connection with his alleged misconduct with 11 women, including several former aides, that was outlined in a state attorney general’s report released in August 2021. Cuomo announced his resignation a week later, but has since disputed the allegations and, while acknowledging he did things that were not appropriate, contends he did not sexually harass anyone.

The accusations by the trooper — identified in the attorney general’s report as “Trooper 1” — were among the most damaging leveled against Cuomo, who had encouraged a senior investigator on his protective detail to offer the now-32-year-old female investigator a job on the special unit that protects the governor. Three years ago, when pressed about the governor’s role in getting the trooper on his detail after meeting her at an event in New York City, Cuomo denied having any role in her transfer.

The last paragraph illustrates Cuomo's strange legal defense. He acknowledges behavior that was "not appropriate," but denies any of his inappropriate conduct is sexual harassment.

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Programming note: We've been tied up with a handful of projects behind the scenes during the past several months, which is why we haven't been on top of developments in news related to the aftermath of Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and the sexual harassment charges that were used as an excuse to remove him from office.

Fortunately, that news coverage has been sparse, so we haven't missed all that much. What we have missed, we'll backfill in the timeline. Like this story, which occurred on 2 October 2023. Following our established practice for playing catchup with any coverage we previously missed, we'll identify when these entries were added to the timeline.

This entry was added to the timeline on 8 October 2023.