#It’s good Cuomo’s gone, but don’t forget the nursing home scandal

I’ve always said it doesn’t matter what ultimately brings down Gov. Cuomo. In the end, it turned out to be a report on sexual harassment. The abuse, detailed in state Attorney General Letitia James’ report last week, was repulsive. Those of us who lost parents, grandparents and in-laws to Cuomo’s killer nursing-home order can’t begrudge his other victims their victory.

Still, it would be a tragedy of the downfall of Cuomo were to spell the end of the inquiry into his catastrophic nursing-home decision and the subsequent attempted cover-up. That would allow many Cuomo cronies and malefactors to carry on with their political and administrative careers without getting to the root of how the decision came to be made —and how the soon-to-be-former governor managed to hide its toll for months.

Tuesday’s damning report from James concluded that the governor — the same one who was being hailed as a presidential candidate last summer — sexually harassed multiple women and in doing so violated federal and New York state law.

Listening to these women’s stories of being “terrified,” “demeaned” and being taken advantage of made me so angry. And not just because of the situations they were forced into, but because Cuomo almost got away with it.

This is just one of the many investigations into the governor’s conduct and behavior. Cuomo’s power-hungry reign over New York extended into a pandemic with the governor celebrating himself instead of actually helping the people he represents.

Sending COVID-positive patients into nursing homes for 46 days helped kill thousands of elderly, including my husband’s parents. But if you watched the news last spring, you probably would never have known.

He was riding high on his popularity: winning an Emmy award, creating and selling creepy posters of a conquered “COVID mountain” and signing a $5.1 million book deal. All the while, he covered up how his decisions led to seniors dying — by the thousands.

I can’t lie: I’m angry that the deaths of over 15,000 seniors didn’t bring headlines or get the scorn that it should have from our elected officials. To them, our greatest generation doesn’t seem to matter. President Biden’s Department of Justice civil investigation into the nursing-home tragedy in New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania was dropped just last week. Why?

This should be one of the biggest stories of the pandemic. Against all scientific evidence, governments ordered infected patients into the homes where our most vulnerable resided. That doesn’t deserve our attention? Shouldn’t we know the origins of the mandate? Or does the truth just get buried along with our precious family members?

My friend Assemblyman Ron Kim, who lost his uncle in a nursing home recently, assured me that he and his colleagues will continue the probe into nursing homes here in New York. But he says we have to get the governor out first. Once his power is gone, we can finally hold him accountable for the thousands of unnecessary deaths under his leadership.

So I will take comfort that Cuomo is resigning, and hold out hope for the truth.

Janice Dean is senior meteorologist at the Fox News Channel.