Cuomo Defends Directing Nursing Homes to Admit COVID-Positive Patients

The former New York governor said the Trump administration was to blame for the state’s excess deaths.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo testifies before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Rayburn House Office Building at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 10, 2024. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared before Congress on Sept. 10 to defend his decision-making in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic when he governed the state.

The governor’s March 2020 directive requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19-positive patients has been widely criticized as a direct contributor to the state’s high number of pandemic fatalities.