Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is firing off at Gov. Cuomo after a recent report stated that the governor’s administration is continuing to dismiss any attempt to hold it accountable for the nursing home deaths following the acceptance of COVID-positive patients into those communities. When the state first formally responded to the COVID outbreak back in March, the administration had COVID-positive patients sent to nursing homes once conventional beds were unavailable in hospitals; this put COVID-positive patients in close vicinity to our most vulnerable population, the elderly, without increasing health precautions in these facilities.

“I am absolutely flabbergasted that the Cuomo administration is continuing to dodge responsibility for a clear mistake made on his part,” Hawley said. “He was the one with the executive powers calling the shots since this whole ordeal started. He was the one who made it clear that the elderly was most at risk. He was the one who put the elderly at risk all across the state. The Governor and his team cannot escape the reality that the loss of life in these nursing homes is on them, and them alone.”