Northeast
Cuomo to testify on COVID orders, nursing home deaths as spox predicts a ‘master class in gaslighting’
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will sit for a hearing Sept. 10 before the congressional subcommittee tasked with probing the coronavirus pandemic, the panel announced Tuesday.
Cuomo, one of the most visible governors during the height of the pandemic, was lambasted for implementing stringent social and economic restrictions throughout the Empire State.
He also was blamed for thousands of COVID-related deaths that occurred in nursing homes, which a 2023 report from the NYS Department of Health calculated to be 826 in Suffolk County, 813 in Erie County – which includes Buffalo — and 623 in Queens County.
“Mr. Cuomo will be questioned about his Administration’s issuance of unscientific guidance that forced New York nursing homes and long-term care facilities to admit COVID-19 positive patients,” an announcement for the hearing read.
CUOMO ALLEGATIONS HAVE NEW YORK DEMOCRATS GOING AFTER EACH OTHER ‘MORE THAN THE ROYAL FAMILY’: GAETZ
Former New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. (Getty Images)
Cuomo, a Democrat, previously sat for a seven-hour transcribed interview with the subcommittee. The panel also interviewed Cuomo’s former secretary, Melissa DeRosa, and then-NYS Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., a Staten Island lawmaker who sits on the subcommittee, said in an interview Tuesday that Cuomo still refuses to take responsibility for his orders and their repercussions.
She recounted how no one in Albany could point to exactly where the order partitioning nursing home patients came from.
“We still don’t know who approved that directive because the governor saying he didn’t know about it, he’s claiming that [Zucker] knew about it before it went out. And yet somehow they’ve been unable to identify who the person was that approved it and issued it, which is so negligent for a directive like that to go out without the health commissioner approving it at minimum,” she said.
The New York lawmaker also pointed to then-President Donald Trump dispatching a military medical ship to New York Harbor, the Jacob Javits Center, and the availability of a mental hospital in her district for the purposes of treating and partitioning serious COVID-19 patients.
“They weren’t being used. So why you have that directive in place, forcing the nursing home to take the COVID positive patients, even when you had alternatives? That was a big failure because at that point he was very clear about this directive.”
SUNUNU NAMES THE TWO GOVERNORS ALL THE OTHERS ‘HATE’
Representative Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from New York, will be one of the lawmakers questioning former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo next week. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When asked how people in her district feel about the situation, Malliotakis said many had lost loved ones during the pandemic from “preventable deaths.”
“They were a result of putting COVID-positive patients in nursing homes. And that was based on a directive and mandate by the Cuomo administration. And the buck stops with him, and he needs to be held accountable,” she said.
“[He blamed] everybody but himself. No apology, no accountability. No remorse… the public deserves answers, and we’re going to push for them at this hearing.”
However, a Cuomo spokesman told Fox News Digital, “the facts speak for themselves” when it comes to the former governor’s handling of COVID, calling congressional Republicans’ oversight a “master class in gaslighting.”
“New York had a lower nursing home death pro-rata than all but 11 states,” said Rich Azzopardi.
The New York Capitol building is seen, June 30, 2023, in Albany, New York. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
Azzopardi called the committee a “farce” and criticized it for being comprised of a “foot doctor” – referring to Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, — “Trump’s personal physician” – former White House doctor; current Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and “a representative with a Ph.D. in QAnon,” in regard to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.,
“[The committee] refuse[s] to look in the mirror at their own anti-science policies that caused hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths or call the one witness who is most relevant and was supposed to lead the entire effort: Donald Trump,” Azzopardi said.
While in office, Cuomo was at times questioned by the press on the matter. In one notable exchange during a July 2020 press conference, the governor was asked about a state report on nursing homes and why an independent investigator was not appointed.
“I don’t believe your characterization is correct – I believe it is a political issue,” Cuomo shot back at the reporter.
Cuomo then went on to blame the New York Post and Fox News, as well as political motivations, for the issue’s prominence.
“People died in nursing homes. That’s very unfortunate. Just on the topline, we are number 35th in the nation in percentage of deaths in nursing homes. Go talk to 34 other states first.”
Cuomo was also criticized for interviews during the pandemic with his brother, Chris, on CNN. In one exchange, the siblings shared a laugh after Chris brandished two comically-large nasal swabs to suggest Andrew has exceptionally large nostrils.
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Pittsburg, PA
Code Orange Air Quality Action Day declared for parts of Allegheny County on Saturday
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection declared a “Code Orange Air Quality Action Day” for parts of Allegheny County on Saturday, January 31.
According to the DEP, the reason for the declaration is fine particulate matter in the Liberty-Clariton area. That includes Clairton City, Glassport Borough, Liberty Borough, Lincoln Borough, and Port Vue Borough.
Due to a strong temperature inversion in the morning, the level of fine particulate matter in the air will be in the code orange range. The DEP said that while concentrations will decrease in the afternoon, levels will remain at the code orange level.
On a code orange day, young children, the elderly, and those who have respiratory problems are asked to limit outdoor activities. Residents are also asked to do their part to help reduce air pollution by reducing the use of fireplaces and wooden stoves, avoiding burning leaves, trash, and other materials, and avoiding the use of gas-powered lawn and gardening equipment.
For those living in the area, they can check the current conditions at this link.
The DEP explained that the fine particulate matter in the area can be emitted from sources such as construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks, or fires.
Connecticut
Another cold weekend as biting winds gradually return
Temperatures are well below average again for Saturday with highs in the upper teens and lower 20s.
Winds will start to increase through tonight, eventually gusting up to 35 miles per hour on Sunday.
Temperatures will feel like -10 to -20 through Sunday morning with a biting wind out of the north.
Sunday is cloudy, but Connecticut will stay dry as a strong snowstorm misses us well to the southeast.
High temperatures will lift into the 30s by Monday, and we’ll stay there through next week.
Maine
Maine’s health care policy must be informed by people on the front lines | Opinion
Roger Poitras is CEO of InterMed.
Most of us learn early in life: don’t make medical decisions without consulting a health care professional. When it comes to shaping health care policy, we don’t always follow the same advice, but we should. And in Maine, we’re beginning to.
Our health care system is under real strain. Across the state, hospitals and medical practices are operating with thin margins, struggling to recruit and retain staff and making difficult decisions about which services they can sustainably offer.
Workforce shortages and rising costs are colliding with an aging population and growing demand for care. These pressures create uncertainty both for organizations trying to plan ahead, and for patients who worry about access, continuity and how far they’ll have to travel to receive care.
Against that backdrop, Maine convened a commission to examine how the state reviews major changes in health care. I had the honor of serving on that commission, and the experience was enlightening.
The process was thoughtful and grounded in a genuine commitment to ensuring patients and communities have access to care. Nonetheless, the experience also reinforced an important lesson: effective reform requires more than convening a group and hearing testimony; it requires expertise and the willingness to listen to those who live these realities every day. It also demands a sustained, two-way dialogue and a willingness to wrestle openly with perspectives that challenge initial assumptions.
There were times throughout the course of the commission that the discussion felt oriented toward validating specific solutions rather than fully examining the underlying problems they were meant to address. Given the commission’s scope and timeline, that structure is understandable. But it also points to a broader risk in health care policymaking: when discussions begin with conclusions rather than questions, the range of viable solutions can narrow before the work truly begins.
Health care does not operate in silos. Clinical decisions affect staffing. Staffing affects access. Access affects finances. Regulation touches all of it. When policy is developed without engaging in that full context, it can be well-intentioned but incomplete, or responsive in theory but difficult to implement in practice.
Meaningful reform depends on processes that invite not just agreement, but challenge, nuance and the lived realities of delivering care. This commission showed that Maine is willing to invite frontline voices into the conversation. That matters. But if we want policies that truly strengthen our health care system, the state must continue to invite health care professionals into the conversation earlier and more consistently.
At the same time, those of us who work in health care have a responsibility to join the conversation. This commission was my first experience serving in this type of role, and to be candid, it was not always comfortable. At times, the process felt constrained.
The outcomes are not guaranteed. But participation matters. If we choose not to engage because the process is imperfect, we leave critical decisions to those farther removed from day-to-day care.
The future of health care in Maine will be shaped by who shows up, who stays engaged and who is willing to offer practical, experience-based insight, even when it complicates the conversation.
It’s time to deepen the dialogue, broaden participation and create an ongoing partnership between policymakers and the people who deliver care. That is how we move from conversation to action, and how we ensure Maine’s health care system remains accessible, sustainable and centered on the patients and communities it serves.
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