ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith urged former New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo to rant for more than five minutes without expressing regret on two questions about the “nursing home crisis” during the Covid-19 pandemic on Monday.
Cuomo, who recently announced his candidacy for New York City, faces accusations of underreporting deaths in state nursing homes in accordance with his administration’s directives that allowed thousands of positive Covid-19 cases to the facility. Smith, “Stephen A. Smith Shawasked Cuomo about his allegations of responsibility and extension in the crisis, the former governor refused to admit his guilt. (Related: Disgraceful “Government of Love” Andrew Cuomo controls the NYC mayoral field: Poll)
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“How much negligence, liability and responsibility do you think you deserve, and what role do you believe in, as you ultimately left the governor of New York?” Smith asked.
Cuomo responded by renting over four minutes, discussing the unprecedented nature of the pandemic.
“No one really knew what to do. There was the best health authorities in Grove who worked with us because New York had the first and worst Covids, because the plane had been bringing it from Europe to New York for months and no one knew,” he said. “So I had the best health authorities you could get, but no one really knew what to do. And the worst symptoms of Covid were in nursing homes. And this was a horrifying situation. And God forbids everyone from experiencing this again.”
“In nursing homes, we had to close our visits because we were afraid that more people would bring in the virus. And you were a lot of people in nursing homes dying because obviously, COVID has gained vulnerable and immune deficiency, which was in nursing homes,” he continued. “So you had people dying in nursing homes. They couldn’t see their family even if they were at the end of their lives. The family couldn’t say goodbye, meaning it was just as painful as the human situation you could imagine.”
Cuomo then stated that the situation was “traumatic” like he and many others. He claimed he was “best” on what health, federal and state officials knew at the time, but “didn’t have enough knowledge.”
The former governor accused politicians of politicizing the crisis because it happened in 2020, the year of elections. He said none of the lawsuits or investigation into the circumstances found any misconduct.
“In the end, everyone comes to the same basic conclusion. It’s what everyone can do and the health authorities did what they thought at the right time,” he said. “But a lot of people have died in nursing homes.”
Cuomo also touted the mortality rates for nursing homes in New York.
“To get through New York’s lowest line – and all politics, they count how many people died in nursing homes per 100,” he said. “So it’s apples and apples – big, small. How many people died in every 100 people in the nursing home? New York is number 38. This means only 12 states with lower mortality rates than New York.”
“And that’s saying something, Stephen, you know, we had it first, so the other states were ready for months. They just fell out of the sky for New Yorkers. But those are the numbers of the federal government,” he continued. “Nursing Home Mortality Rate – Ranked 38th. I wanted to be number 50. But 38 states – only 12 states with low mortality rates. New York officials, health officials say they did well, not only did their job.”
The issue with changing nursing home data during the pandemic came in May 2020 when the Daily Call News Foundation reported that it manipulated data to enhance the governor’s image.
“But in honour, they used the word “undercount,” so it seems they’re coming to you. And what they said was that at that particular moment your star rose to another level, so it was underestimated… and that’s where the words “politicized” or “politicized” came out because you felt you were covered for political purposes,” Smith said. “And when you look back at it, was it somehow a mistake? Was there anything you could turn around and say, “Maybe they should have done something different to prevent them from coming to me with those accusations”? ”
Cuomo responded with another rant that lasted more than 90 seconds. He once again promoted the death rates of his state nursing homes and the only problem he said he should have handled them differently was communication.
“What’s different in retrospect? When it got political, Stephen partially resented the politicization of it if you did,” he said. “We were doing everything we could at the time to save lives, but now you want to do politics? And do you want to start with a Justice Department investigation during this crisis?”
“I resented the infusion of politics, and I probably didn’t have as much communication as I should have been because I thought it was political,” he continued. “And like I said, I resented that politics was in what was the most important crisis of a generation. So I’d say that.”
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