Andrew Cuomo to Testify Before House COVID-19 Subcommittee

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo following a closed-door interview with the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Capitol Hill on June 11, 2024. Al Drago/Getty Images

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is scheduled to testify publicly on Sept. 10 before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, the subcommittee said on Sept. 3.

“Andrew Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York’s nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), said in a statement.

In 2020, Cuomo ordered New York nursing homes to house its citizens who tested positive for COVID-19.

“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” an order issued by the New York State Department of Health, under Cuomo, stated on March 25, 2020.

The New York State Department of Health “was not transparent in its reporting of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes” and understated the number of COVID-19 deaths by as much as 50 percent, according to a 2022 audit by the New York state comptroller.

The department “failed to account for approximately 4,100” deaths that occurred in these facilities between April 2020 and February 2021, according to the audit report.

The comptroller experienced delays during the audit, with requests for information “languishing at times for months,” the report stated.

“Further, department officials frequently would not answer our questions posed during scheduled meetings, and instead asked us to submit our questions in writing afterward, to be answered at a later date,” the report said.

In March, the subcommittee subpoenaed Cuomo to testify about the nursing home deaths.

“This misguided decision effectively admitted thousands of COVID-19 positive patients into nursing homes, causing predictable but deadly consequences for New York’s most vulnerable,” the subcommittee wrote in a letter to Cuomo.

The subcommittee interviewed Cuomo behind closed doors in June about his nursing home policies during the pandemic.

Cuomo said he was unaware of the March 25, 2020, order until a press conference the following April. He said the nursing homes were “confused by it,” according to the subcommittee.

In July 2020, Cuomo pushed back on criticism over his handling of nursing homes amid the pandemic.

“I think it is all politically motivated. If anybody looked at the facts, they would know that it was wholly absurd on its face. People died in nursing homes. That’s very unfortunate,” he said.

In February 2021, Cuomo denied allegations of not accurately reporting nursing home deaths due to COVID-19.

“All the deaths in the nursing homes and in the hospitals were always fully, publicly, and accurately reported,” he told reporters.

“In retrospect, should we have given more priority to fulfilling information requests? In my opinion, yes, and I think that’s what created the void. But do I understand the pressure everyone was under? Yes,” he said, referring to a state Legislature probe over the nursing home deaths. A federal probe was also underway.

Following the June closed-door interview, Wenstrup said in a press conference: “I felt like the governor was defensive throughout most of the day, often putting blame on other people rather than himself. He didn’t seem to be taking a lot of responsibility for the things that were happening.”

Wenstrup said Cuomo did not take issue with the discrepancy between the reported death count and the actual death rate.

“6,500 or 9,000 ... who cares, what difference does it make?” Cuomo said, according to the subcommittee.

Ahead of the Sept. 10 hearing date, a spokesman for Cuomo criticized the committee.

“This committee has continued to engage in false political attacks blaming New York for nursing home deaths despite the fact that New York was following guidance from Trump’s CDC and CMS,” spokesman said Rich Azzopardi in a statement.

“More than a dozen other states—Democratic and Republican—followed the same guidance or as one of those state’s leaders, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, put it, ‘This was federal guidance. This was what everyone was doing.’”