Governor Cuomo Gets Annihilated in Polling After Nursing Home Virus Scandal

Empire State Governor Andrew Cuomo is in the proverbial dog house with New Yorkers this week, and it’s easy to see why.

Cuomo’s COVID response, while complex and with some merit, has been heavily criticized for one particular area of focus:  Nursing homes where New York health authorities sent patients in the early days of the pandemics.  Of course, the elderly are far more susceptible to having complications from his virus than other demographic groups, and there was some veritable carnage when COVID-19 came home to roost in these facilities.

Now, as New Yorkers begin to grasp the full scope of this tragedy, and the possible coverup that is believed to have occurred, Cuomo is getting raked over the polls.

A majority of New Yorkers disapprove of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of reporting nursing home deaths amid continuing controversy over an alleged cover-up by his administration.

The Siena College poll of New York state voters found that only 39% approved of his handling of making public data related to nursing home deaths while 55% disapprove.

Cuomo has been under fire for his handling of nursing homes in the early days of the pandemic — specifically a March 25 order that required nursing homes to take in COVID patients. But the controversy exploded last week after a top Cuomo aide told Democrats that the administration “froze” amid an investigation from the Justice Department.

“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” she said in remarks first reported by the New York Post.

Those remarks came after a damning report by state Attorney General Letitia James that found the state undercounted nursing home deaths by as much as 50%.

Cuomo has been a controversial figure during the COVID-19 pandemic from the early onset, after finding plenty of time during his daily press conferences to turn his attention toward the White House to lash out at Donald Trump.