Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean blamed Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the death of both of her in-laws in a new opinion piece.
“Cuomo’s motto during the coronavirus pandemic has always been ‘New York Tough,'” Dean wrote Wednesday in an op-ed for USA Today. “But when it comes to tough questions about his leadership during this time, Cuomo has shown he isn’t so tough after all. In fact, he prefers to place blame on anyone but himself for the disastrous decisions he’s made.”
Dean explained her husband’s parents, both of whom were elderly, had been living in a nursing home before the coronavirus pandemic began. Cuomo’s office issued a March 25 order that required some recovering coronavirus patients be placed into nursing homes. The order also prevented the requirement that incoming patients “be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
“At first, we didn’t blame anyone for their deaths. This is a pandemic, and the virus is particularly dangerous for the elderly,” Dean said. “We had no idea until it was too late.”
Criticizing the lack of scrutiny Cuomo received from media outlets regarding the nursing home policy, which was in effect for 46 days, Dean was baffled by what she described as “puff pieces” written and broadcast by outlets covering Cuomo’s coronavirus response.
“The insensitivity of it was infuriating,” she said. “The death toll in our senior living facilities in New York alone was bigger than 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina combined. Where is the outrage?”
After Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease doctor, said other states should study Cuomo’s response to the pandemic as a model for preventing the spread of the disease, Dean called that assessment “garbage.”
Former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien sparked internet backlash after she dismissed Dean’s statement by tweeting, “Meteorologist weighs in.”
Cuomo has rejected any correlation between a spike in nursing home deaths during the pandemic and his March 25 order.
“Older people, vulnerable people are going to die from this virus. That is going to happen despite whatever you do,” he said in May. “Because with all our progress as a society, we can’t keep everyone alive.”
Dean called it an obvious display of “arrogance” and makes the grief she and her husband are going through “far worse.”
“This should not be about politics. It’s about accountability for what happened to our parents and grandparents, who trusted us to look out for them,” Dean wrote. “My in-laws Mickey and Dee Newman were New York tough. The governor? He’s as weak as they come.”
