Fox News’s Janice Dean put the spotlight on CNN for not questioning Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the nursing home controversy that happened in his state amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York Department of Health admitted last week that its most recent coronavirus death reporting does not fully account for the known coronavirus deaths among nursing home residents. The department confirmed it was disclosing nursing home deaths regardless of whether the patient died there or in a hospital until about April 28. It then made a “subtle” change around May 3, and now reports deaths if the patient died while physically present at a facility.
About 23,000 people in the state have died from the coronavirus, and 25% of them have been in nursing homes, according to a local CBS affiliate Tuesday.
Dean took to Twitter to highlight how CNN has not questioned the governor on the matter.
“The last time anyone from @CNN asked @NYGovCuomo a question pertaining to nursing homes was all the way back on March 10,” Dean tweeted Tuesday, quoting a Fox story about the controversy. “2 wks before the governor’s order that forced nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for coronavirus.”
“The last time anyone from @CNN asked @NYGovCuomo a question pertaining to nursing homes was all the way back on March 10 – 2 wks before the governor’s order that forced nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for coronavirus. https://t.co/YaQ8JFDwon
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) May 19, 2020
The governor addressed nursing home deaths this week during a press conference, saying, “Protecting our nursing homes and our seniors has been a top priority. Last week I put a requirement in place that staff at nursing homes be tested twice a week … all staff. You will always have people who say we should do more, that always happens, and by the way, now they’re complaining we’re doing more, and they want it both ways. You can’t have it both ways.”
Dean continued her tweets about the issue, quoting other salient points from the Fox story.
“Jake Tapper asked if the state was ready to handle the type of coronavirus-related tragedy that occurred in Kirkland, Wash., where 19 people had died at the Life Care Center nursing home,” she continued.
… Jake Tapper asked if the state was ready to handle the type of coronavirus-related tragedy that occurred in Kirkland, Wash., where 19 people had died at the Life Care Center nursing home.”
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) May 19, 2020
…and this little gem with @ChrisCuomo and @NYGovCuomo was March 30th when people were being stacked up in body bags from nursing/assisted living residences. pic.twitter.com/SpxLN4Qwdd
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) May 19, 2020
She continued tweeting about the controversy Wednesday, posting an op-ed from the Washington Times titled “N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s careless cruelty shows in coronavirus nursing home policy.”
“Nursing home executives complain privately that @NYGovCuomo should’ve known his mandate would be a killer, but they were never consulted and got no notice before being swamped with infected patients.”https://t.co/fa0wr5dbgT
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) May 20, 2020
GOP New York Rep. Elise Stefanik has called for an independent investigation into Cuomo’s handling of the coronavirus.
“New York has mismanaged how we have approached and how we’ve protected our seniors in our nursing homes,” Stefanik said this week. “We knew, going into this, that our most vulnerable are our seniors and particularly in those assisted living facilities, whether they’re senior living facilities or nursing homes.”
“New York, when compared to other states, took a number of negative actions that cost over 5,000 lives,” she added. “They also didn’t fully tell the public how many seniors’ deaths there were coming from nursing homes. So, that reporting data, they didn’t count the hospital deaths when there was a positive case that was transmitted because of the senior nursing home.”
