Posted on 04/29/2020 6:41:43 AM PDT by Kaslin
Andrew Cuomo backed a state regulation that turned nursing homes into pandemic hotspots. But journalists determined to boost him at Trump’s expense aren’t biting.
The news media isn’t waiting for the dust to settle on the coronavirus pandemic to start assessing blame for the ensuing losses. Since the moment it became apparent that the Wuhan coronavirus was going to exact a fearsome toll in the United States, the pundit class began asserting that the Trump administration had failed to safeguard the country against the threat.
As the crisis deepened and lockdowns were imposed, a different political narrative emerged that contrasted with the alleged failures of President Donald Trump. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefings became must-watch television in much the same way Trump’s press conferences did, except Cuomo’s performance seemed to charm many, including the corporate media.
Cuomo’s ability to strike the right tone consistently by sounding in charge, as well as speaking in a manner that seemed comforting to those in distress, was in marked contrast with Trump’s confrontational style that may have appealed to his supporters while alienating many others. While most of the mainstream media continued to hit Trump hard by second-guessing his decision-making early in the crisis, Cuomo’s decisions escaped close scrutiny.
That should have changed once it was clear that one of the hottest of the pandemic’s hotspots — New York’s nursing homes — were compelled by a state regulation to take in recovering coronavirus victims, many of whom were likely still contagious.
The implication of this rule — which was apparently strictly enforced and similar to the order issued by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration — was that facilities filled with exactly the most vulnerable population had no choice but to admit carriers of the contagion. The results of this blunder were as brutal as they were predictable. As of last week, New York’s Health Department estimated the number of nursing home patients who had died of COVID-19 to be 3,500, a total representing more than 20 percent of all the state’s fatalities.
As reports of the suffering going on in nursing homes made clear, what happened was not a function of demography or chance. The March 25 order handed down by Cuomo’s Health Department mandating that nursing homes could not reject those recovering from the illness set in motion the events that inflated the state’s COVID-19 death tolls.
Far from realizing the mistake and seeking to correct it, Cuomo was still doubling down on the order at an April 26 press conference, at which he said again that nursing homes had no right to challenge the state order and reject patients who were likely to spread the illness.
When a reporter challenged him, asking whether upholding the order contradicted his admission that what was going on in these facilities was a “feeding frenzy” for the virus, Cuomo refused to acknowledge the problem. Instead, he insisted that any institution that didn’t have quarantine space or sufficient equipment to protect other patients or staff could request to have coronavirus victims transferred elsewhere.
Yet as the New York Post reported a day later, one coronavirus hotspot, the Cobble Hill Health Center in Brooklyn, where 55 people have died from COVID-19, had tried repeatedly to inform state Health Department officials of its lack of equipment and staff to handle the problem and received no help. Requests to transfer patients to the makeshift wards at New York’s mammoth Javits Center, a convention center that has been turned into a hospital, or the USS Comfort, the navy hospital ship that was anchored in New York Harbor before leaving due to lack of use, were turned down.
The problems in the nursing homes were reportedly compounded by a policy of secrecy. Families of the elderly housed in the facilities were not informed that their loved ones were being put in harm’s way until it was too late. While Cuomo conceded at one point, “I wouldn’t put my mother in a nursing home right now,” he was at the same time backing his administration’s order.
The Health Department order Cuomo supported was motivated by fears that those who had survived the illness might be rendered homeless if facilities could keep them outside their walls. But the proper response to that dilemma was not to leave care facilities without the option to protect their residents. If Health Department officials lacked the initiative or creativity to come up with alternatives — such as using the emergency resources being assembled by the state and federal governments to deal with the crisis — then Cuomo had the responsibility to sack them and find people who would not compound an already terrible situation.
But Cuomo didn’t deal with the problem and, flush with the positive media coverage his sympathetic pressers had created for him, he has airily dismissed any notion that he or his aides should be held accountable for what happened.
The nursing home order is only part of Cuomo’s pandemic record and should be placed in the context of his overall leadership and ability to speak to the fears of so many people. It’s also easy to second-guess any actions taken amid the chaos engendered by an unprecedented disaster. But in the absence of the governor taking responsibility for what turned out to be a fatal blunder by his administration, the cries of those who lost loved ones as a result should not be ignored.
In another time and place, the New York media, with which the governor has had a testy relationship, might have gone after Cuomo, who had a reputation as something of a political thug before the pandemic. But as the corporate media remains obsessed with criticizing every statement by Trump during his daily briefings, they appear little interested in holding Cuomo accountable not merely for inappropriate comments, but for actions that led directly to the loss of lives.
No they don’t care. Imagine if a Republican governor were to have done this. Can you imagine the media outrage that would follow?
#Death-by-Cuomo
Just imagine the body count if we had President HilLIARy
The ‘good news’ (?) is that most likely no patriot would still be alive to worry about it
[ ...note the date... ]
New York state faces $6.1 billion budget hole next year: officials
By Bernadette Hogan and Carl Campanile
NY Post | November 22, 2019
Gov. Cuomo faces a growing budget mess as officials projected a shocking $6.1 billion hole in the state’s finances next year.
The figure was provided by the state Division of Budget in its mid-year budget report, which was released weeks after its legally mandated due date.
That tallies up to roughly 6 percent of the state’s $102 billion budget for its agencies and operations.
More than half of the gap — $4 billion — is linked to a dramatic rise in the state’s Medicaid costs.
In an effort to patch the hole, Cuomo is considering slashing payments to hospitals and nursing homes in the current budget and perhaps next year.
(...)
LINK: https://nypost.com/2019/11/22/new-york-state-faces-6-1-billion-budget-hole-next-year-officials/
[ => Cha-ching. ]
Fedzilla changed its regs to allow facilities to refuse returns if necessary.
Cuomo ordered them sent back despite the leeway Fedzilla gave.
There’s a lot that needs investigating. Why were cases sent Upstate, for example?
The press won’t cover it simply because he is a Democrat! His policies has only been to give himself POWER. Hail with the people of the state of NY.
If anyone wants a small scale example to investigate, check out Steuben County in Upstate NY.
Cuomo is responsible for thousands of deaths due to his political stupidity. New Yorkers voted him into office, now live with it.
Imagine if a Republican governor were to have done this. Can you imagine the media outrage that would follow?
= = = =
Agree, completely!
Imagine if this were Pataki....the media outrage.
Speaking of Pataki.....where is HE calling out this horrid Gov Cuomo?
(Let me guess...being a Bushie about it?)
The ONLY recent news I saw Pataki mentioned in is for stories about rebuilding NY....nothing about this nursing home tragedy.
Oh....and, I also saw this....
Andrew Cuomo favored to win a fourth term that eluded his father
DISGUSTING!!! What is wrong with these people???
But they’re going bat soup crazy over something President Dr. Trump never said about ingesting Lysol.
The media is Pravda for the DNC.
Liberalism.
The Cuomo team in New York does not come to the table with clean hands. Whether through incompetence, or with malicious aforethought, these patients, many of whom were still contagious, were sent to facilities that had neither the means not the inclination to keep them segregated with suitable precautions in place until certain the contagious stage was past.
I know, hindsight is 20-20. But there was plenty of historical precedent, and it was roundly ignored.
People died
Governor DeSantis FL, refused to do what Cuomo was doing, he was harassed and criticized for not releasing sick Seniors into nursing homes. They thought he was a murderer for not protecting a huge vulnerable population. Now, who protected the most vulnerable?
It’s been known since almost day one that the elderly were particularly vulnerable to this. Pretty much every state locked down the nursing homes, I’m pretty sure that was part of the federal guidelines. It is so obvious that letting carriers in there is a recipe for disaster that this almost must have been intentional!
Right, but they blamed Trump as the reason why people died!
bkmk
All this sounds sarcastic I mean that the left believe this literally.
They died in service to the cause, no need to cover it, just move on. Besides, they don’t want to take time away from the latest manufactured Trump comments.
He will win even if no human votes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.