Amid extensive local reporting questioning how he’s handled the issue of nursing homes during the coronavirus outbreak in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo admitted he wouldn’t put his own mother in one right now.
During an appearance on MSNBC, Cuomo told anchor Chuck Todd that if he had to advise a friend with an elderly parent, he’d say, “You have a vulnerable person. Best to keep them at home and not put them in a congregate facility. Keep them in a situation where you have the most control.”
He went on, saying, “That is the blunt truth. That’s what I would do with my mother.”
“Can we keep nursing homes safe? No,” he said. “Can you keep a hospital safe? No. Can you keep any gathering safe? No. That’s why New Yorkers and Americans have to keep themselves safe. That’s the caution flag for any of this. Nursing homes, congregate facilities, senior citizens: they are the feeding ground for this virus.”
Cuomo’s mother, former New York first lady Matilda Cuomo, probably doesn’t face exactly the same hurdles with senior care facilities that the standard elderly New Yorker does. According to the New York Post, the governor’s approval fell from 71% to 63% in a recent Sienna College poll, with most respondents saying they weren’t happy with his handling of elder care facilities.
According to the paper, there are about 5,800 confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases in the state’s nursing homes. Cuomo blamed federal guidance for a controversial March directive instructing all nursing homes to readmit residents who had tested positive for the coronavirus.
That was rolled back in May and now hospitals can’t send coronavirus-positive people back to homes.
WATCH: @NYGovCuomo on @MSNBC
“You have a vulnerable person best to keep them at home and not put them in a congregate facility. Keep them in a situation where you have the most control. That is the blunt truth. That’s what I would do with my mother.” pic.twitter.com/hAbNivyh2b
— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) May 27, 2020