A bipartisan group of family members who lost loved ones in New York nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic asked President Joe Biden to help in getting answers from U.S government agencies that are "stonewalling on very simple questions about Governor Andrew Cuomo's deadly March 25, 2020 nursing home directive."
Cuomo's directive initially barred nursing homes from refusing to accept patients just because they'd had COVID-19. More than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients were released from hospitals into nursing homes under the directive, which was rescinded amid speculation that it had accelerated outbreaks.
The former governor has insisted he was following guidelines from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Bipartisan efforts by New York elected officials have attempted to compel the CDC/CMS to fact-check Cuomo's statements and say if his directive was in compliance with the agencies' guidelines.
Lifelong Democrats Peter and Daniel Arbeeny, whose father died in a nursing home, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean, whose mother-in-law and father-in-law died in a nursing home, and Voices for Seniors, which was created of the loss of family members to COVID-19, sent the Dec. 30 letter to Biden.
"It is a national tragedy that New York lost 15,000 of our most loved ones in nursing homes within a few months," the letter reads. "Hence we are asking for your help to get these victims, their families and loved ones, and the elected officials seeking responses to their inquiries an answer from the CDC/CMS: 'Was former Governor Cuomo's March 25, 2020 directive following CDC/CMS guidelines.'"
The letter added that from "progressive Democrat New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams to Republican New York State Senate Leader Robert Ortt, and everyone on the political spectrum between them, a bipartisan group of elected officials have sent letters to CDC/CMS requesting information. No one has received a response, so the Cuomo Nursing Home Orphans are soliciting the President's assistance."
The letter comes after Daniel Arbeeny's wrongful death lawsuit against Cuomo was tossed by a judge in September, the New York Post reported.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told Newsmax a Justice Department watchdog report said three senior Trump administration officials violated DOJ rules just before the 2020 election by divulging details of an investigation into coronavirus deaths at nursing homes in New York and other Democrat-run states, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
"Let’s focus on facts: The nursing home Mr. Arbeeny checked his father into did not admit a single COVID positive patient into their facility until three weeks after his father was discharged and the suit he filed against the state was dismissed. The federal government — as recently as yesterday — said this state Department of Health guidance conformed with federal guidelines," Azzopardi said in a statement to Newsmax.
In September, Cuomo testified before Congress about his administration's handling of the COVID pandemic. He previously testified in a private hearing on June 11.
It then was reported in October that the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic planned to refer Cuomo to the Justice Department for possible prosecution for allegedly lying to Congress.
Reporting from The Associated Press was used in preparing this article.