Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo testified before Congress regarding his administration's COVID-19 nursing home policies, ABC News reported Sept. 10.
The Oversight and Accountability Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic led the hearing, which called on Mr. Cuomo to discuss his administration's March 2020 decision to allow hospitalized COVID-19 positive individuals readmittance into nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
At the hearing, Mr. Cuomo said the March 2020 directive was an attempt to address hospital capacity issues and based on CMS guidelines that allowed for readmittance if facilities had "the ability to adhere to infection prevention and control recommendations," according to ABC News.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup said the March decision "was not consistent with federal guidance, nor consistent with medical doctrine," according to ABC News.
That policy was amended in May 2020 to require hospitalized residents to test negative for the virus before returning to a nursing home or long-term care facility.
Mr. Cuomo was also asked to discuss the 2021 report that showed his administration knowingly undercounted COVID-19 related nursing home deaths.
He testified that his staff was never told to undercount nursing home deaths and that the "numbers were less than certain" due to the rolling nature of the updates his administration received, according to ABC News.