Cuomo Responds To Criticism About Nursing Home Deaths in New York

Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded to criticism that his action led to a number of nursing home deaths across New York State.

On Monday, Cuomo responded to criticism that his order, which allowed COVID-19 patients to be transferred from hospitals to nursing houses to free up bed space, cost many New Yorkers' lives. Cuomo responded to the criticism in an exclusive interview that aired Monday night on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.

“We looked at this factually. If you look at when the nursing home deaths happened, it has no correlation to that order. Where the spread came from, were from the workers. It is the direct correlation to the spread of the virus in that worker's community. There's a chance that the virus may have come from visitors early on," Cuomo told NBC News’ Gabe Gutierre.

You can see the full segment below:

In early July, the New York State Department of Health today released results of what officials describe as "an in-depth analysis of nursing home data" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study found that most COVID-19 fatalities in nursing homes were related to infected nursing home staff, officials say. According to the New York State Department of Health, the findings prove staff members and visitors infected elderly residents adding an order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients wasn't a big factor in their deaths.

Thousands of nursing home patients in New York have died from the virus as of this writing. You can read the full report HERE.