#Cuomo still stands by coronavirus nursing home order despite death toll

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday yet again doubled down on his decision to send coronavirus patients to nursing homes from hospitals — despite it potentially factoring in to more than 5,000 deaths.

The governor reiterated a March 25 health department mandate that required all nursing homes to accept residents who tested positive for COVID-19.

“So the choice is, leave a person in a hospital bed for two weeks until they test negative, or send them to a nursing home that can handle it and quarantine them and isolate them,” Cuomo said in an interview with Jay Oliver on Long Island News Radio.

“The nursing home is a better choice for that senior person, especially when you’re in a time when you need the hospital beds for people who are going to die without a ventilator.”

Cuomo has come under fire for his administration’s mandate that nursing homes take in COVID-19 afflicted patients, which resulted in roughly 5,800 confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths.

An analysis by USA Today found that more than 40,600 residents in long-term care facilities across the nation died of COVID-19.

Cuomo on Thursday said New York State ranked No. 34 in the country for nursing home deaths and again blamed critics for “playing politics.”

In April, the governor signed legislation granting nursing homes immunity from lawsuits related to the coronavirus.