New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is taking fire for seeking a $4 million book deal admin his administration’s “successful” battle against COVID-19, even as his aides worked to cover up the staggering death toll in New York nursing homes.
The New York Times reported that the book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” centered around New York’s battle with the coronavirus.
Cuomo also reportedly used his staff to help with the book.
Cuomo has been in hot water lately, first for his handling of the pandemic, then a series of sexual misconduct allegations, as well as allegations that he gave his family special access to the vaccine.
Now these reports indicate that he tried to make millions off a book that paints him as a hero fighting COVID-19 even as his staff hid evidence of failed policies in fighting the virus.
New York was hit particularly hard and struggled to recover from the very start of the pandemic last year.
Cuomo sent thousands of infected people back to nursing homes, where many spread the virus to the rest of the elderly population there.
Critics accuse Cuomo’s nursing home policy of leading to thousands of deaths, especially among the elderly.
“It’s tricky to compare state-level data, but New York is the only state that explicitly stated that they were excluding hospital-based deaths,” Priya Chidambaram, a senior policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told NBC news.
The Justice Department is investigating Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, along with New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The DOJ sent a letter to Cuomo in August of last year asking for more nursing home information for their investigation.
“Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations,” said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband. “We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk.”
