A federal choose on Monday dismissed a lawsuit towards former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his dealing with of nursing residence deaths in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New York households with family members who died from COVID-19 in nursing properties filed the lawsuit in early 2022, accusing Cuomo’s administration of undercounting fatalities.
“Over the last 4 years, the controversy over COVID in nursing properties has been weaponized, distorted and contorted past recognition by these utilizing this example for their very own politics,” Cuomo spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi stated in a press release to Fox Information. “Nonetheless, anytime this will get taken out of the political area, the reality wins. The choose in the present day dominated to dismiss this case simply because the DOJ – which launched three separate probes – and the Manhattan district lawyer did beforehand. As soon as once more, justice has prevailed.”
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FILE: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo arrives to testify earlier than the Choose Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic within the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing on the U.S. Capitol on September 10, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura)
Cuomo was extensively lauded within the early months of the pandemic, however his popularity took a success amid revelations that his administration launched an incomplete accounting of the deaths at nursing properties and assisted dwelling amenities.
He resigned from workplace in August 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, which he denies.
Cuomo testified earlier than the subcommittee in June, nevertheless it was behind closed doorways. Prime former Cuomo administration officers additionally have been interviewed as a part of the investigation.
A separate state report commissioned by Cuomo’s successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and launched this summer season, discovered that whereas the insurance policies on how nursing properties ought to deal with COVID-19 have been “rushed and uncoordinated,” they have been primarily based on one of the best understanding of the science on the time.
FILE: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is sworn in to testify earlier than the Choose Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic within the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing on the U.S. Capitol on September 10, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura)
Cuomo confronted a grilling from Republican lawmakers earlier this month throughout a congressional subcommittee listening to.
Republicans who questioned the Democrat zeroed in on a controversial directive his administration issued in March of 2020 that originally barred nursing properties from refusing to just accept sufferers simply because they’d had COVID-19. Greater than 9,000 recovering coronavirus sufferers have been launched from hospitals into nursing properties below the directive, which was rescinded amid hypothesis that it had accelerated outbreaks.
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Cuomo defended his actions and blamed the previous Trump administration for failing to supply sufficient testing and private protecting tools within the early days of the pandemic.
“These are all diversions guilty New York and different states for the culpability of the federal response, which was malpractice,” Cuomo stated.
New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo (C), New York Metropolis Mayor Invoice DeBlasio (R) and New York state Division of Well being Commissioner Howard Zucker maintain a information convention on the primary confirmed case of COVID-19 in New York on March 2, 2020, in New York Metropolis. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Photos)
A report issued by the Home committee did not delve into the query of whether or not vital numbers of individuals discharged from hospitals have been nonetheless contagious with the virus once they have been readmitted to nursing properties, or whether or not they then handed the virus to different sufferers.
Cuomo informed the panel that its report offered no proof to help the allegation that the directive helped unfold the virus.
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There have been about 15,000 COVID-19 deaths amongst long-term care residents in New York, way over the preliminary quantity disclosed. Cuomo stated some figures have been initially withheld out of issues about accuracy.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
