Cuomo: We Had High Number of Nursing Home Deaths Because Feds Didn’t Tell Us Virus Was Coming from Europe

On Monday’s “MSNBC Live,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said that New York had more nursing home deaths than any other state “Because we had more people die. Because the federal government missed the boat and never told us that this virus was coming from Europe and not from China.”

Host Stephanie Ruhle asked, “House Republicans are looking into New York’s March 25 order that directed nursing homes to take in infected patients. This thing is not going away, sir. 6,300 people died in New York nursing homes. That is the most in this country. The more time has passed, the more your office has been able to look into this. Do you take responsibility for that order and the role it may have played in those deaths?”

Cuomo responded, “Yeah, the Republicans, Stephanie, are playing politics. They don’t want to talk about how they are now handling this COVID virus –.”

Ruhle then cut in to state that lives are being discussed.

Cuomo responded, “Yes, I understand that, and there are facts also, Stephanie. … Yes, we had more people die in nursing homes than anywhere else. Because we had more people die. Because the federal government missed the boat and never told us that this virus was coming from Europe and not from China. And January, February, March, before they did the European travel ban, 3 million people came from Europe and brought the virus to New York, and the federal government didn’t know and the federal government and the CDC and all of them failed to handle this pandemic and warn this nation. So, New York had more cases, more deaths, and more deaths in nursing home[s]. Because that’s who the virus affects. It affects senior citizens. We know that. You look at any state, and they had a tremendous number of deaths in nursing homes. It’s all a political charade. And it’s an ugly one, frankly, to talk about a number of deaths and suggest there was politics at it. The number of deaths are still going up, Stephanie. Look at Florida. Look at Texas. Look at Arizona. Let them look in the mirror and say, you know what? We were wrong. We’re killing people unnecessarily, by this irresponsible, reckless reopening, and it’s not working for the economy either. Those are the facts, Stephanie.”

(h/t Washington Post)

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