Andrew Cuomo still can’t be bothered to give straight answer about his role sending COVID patients to nursing homes

In the first primary debate between candidates on Wednesday, Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo avoided directly answering whether he would acknowledge the accurate number of nursing home deaths during COVID-19.

In March 2022, an audit revealed that the New York State Department of Health severely undercounted the deaths of nursing home patients while Cuomo served as governor. During the primary debate, Cuomo was almost immediately pressed about his infamous decision to require the state’s nursing homes to accept COVID-19 positive patients, later misrepresenting the number of deaths that occurred at the time.

“The New York reports always counted the number of deaths where they occurred in a nursing home or in a hospital,” Cuomo said.

However, while moderators attempted to move on, and fellow candidates were heard interrupting the former governor, one candidate asked if Cuomo would “acknowledge” the deaths.

“Will you acknowledge the deaths? I mean, it’s a very black and white [question]. Did you lie to Congress, or will you acknowledge the death? 15,000 people died, and he still won’t answer your question,” the candidate said.

Cuomo denied lying to Congress about the nursing home death count.

“No, I told Congress the truth,” Cuomo said. “No, we did not undercount any deaths when they are all counted. We’re number 38 out of 50. Which I think shows that compared to what other states went through, we had it first and worst, and that only 12 states had a lower rate of death.”

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“We should really be thanking the women and men who worked in those nursing homes and did an extraordinary job,” Cuomo added.

In May, reports surfaced that the Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into Cuomo over accusations he lied during a probe before Congress about his administration’s handling of COVID-19.

While Cuomo repeatedly refuted the accusations, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said in March that the former governor “knowingly and willfully made false statements to Congress” in the undercounting of nursing home deaths.

A moderator then asked Cuomo if he had been “involved in the producing” of the original nursing home death report, saying it was “just a yes or no question.”

“I was very aware of the report. I spoke to it at press conferences — ” Cuomo said as other mayoral candidates were heard calling out the former governor.

“No, before it was released, Mr. Cuomo. The question is about the production of the report,” the moderator interrupted.

The moderators decided to “move on,” with one stating that they were not “getting an answer” from Cuomo.

An early poll in January conducted by a third-party found Cuomo to have 32% of likely Democratic voter support, with former city Comptroller Scott Stringer at 10% and current Comptroller Brad Lander in third at 8%.

Cuomo resigned from the governor’s office in 2021, following an August 2021 accusation of sexually harassing 13 women who worked for the state. Cuomo told The New York Times in June that while he regrets resigning, “at the time,” he believed he would have been a “distraction to government functionality” if he chose to stay in his position.

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