Things aren’t looking good for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. While the media is focused on all the sexual harassment scandals swamping his administration, let’s not forget how this all started. At the outset of the pandemic, Cuomo forced a policy that potentially resulted in thousands of deaths.
Despite knowing the elderly were the most at risk of COVID, the governor signed an order requiring nursing homes to take back sick patients. Forcing COVID patients into homes, to live among healthy residents, sounds like a pretty bad idea, right? How could these already overtaxed facilities ensure the virus wouldn’t spread?
While other states (like Florida and Texas) prioritized protecting nursing homes, it seemed Cuomo disregarded any measures to keep the elderly safe. His negligence—and the revelation that he covered up the number of deaths—sparked an FBI investigation.
Now, a whistleblower is coming forward, claiming he warned Cuomo.
A New York City nursing home director told Fox News Wednesday night that he warned the Cuomo administration that their plan to allow recovering COVID-19 patients to return to nursing and other adult care facilities even if they were still positive for the virus was going to lead to disaster, but his warnings were ignored…
“I said that’s ridiculous. We can’t be doing this. It’s just not right to the residents,” he recalled.
Kraus also noted that he “vocalized” his concern with the policy but that “once it was shot down, I never spoke again.” [Source: Daily Wire]
Michael Kraus is the head of Silver Lakes Specialized Care Center in New York. While on a conference call with state officials in March 2020, he expressed his concerns about the governor’s demands. He said bringing in sick patients was not right for residents.
Yet his concerns were “shot down,” prevent any kind of discussion or debate. It seems that even doctors and hospital leaders didn’t care that putting COVID patients in with other nursing home residents wasn’t a big deal.
Perhaps these hospital directors just wanted them out of their hospitals, unconcerned with the consequences. But how could doctors just casually accept an order they know would lead to more infections?
Other state officials were on the call, who didn’t bother to heed Kraus’ warning. Cuomo’s seemed to be carried out like royal decree. Nobody dared to challenge it, despite the fact even a child could assume more people would get sick.
It became very clear Cuomo got nervous afterward, when his office hid the number of nursing home deaths. Why would Cuomo want to “undercount” the number of nursing home deaths, unless he knew his policy was to blame?
The scandal has shaken his administration, with many demanding he resign. New York State lawmakers might impeach him over this and other controversies. Kraus’ story only adds fuel to the fire.
So far, Cuomo has not provided a reasonable defense for his actions. And the country might demand vengeance.
