March 25th has tragically become a new “Day of Infamy” in NYS, as one year ago today Governor Cuomo issued an executive order mandating COVID-positive patients be placed into nursing homes. We remember the 15,000 nursing home residents who died and all the lives lost to the virus.
We remember that every life lost was more than just a statistic, these individuals were someone’s spouse, parent, grandparent and sibling and they deserve justice. This day should be set aside moving forward as a day of solemn reflection in New York State for all those souls who needlessly lost their lives.
For close to a year, the Cuomo Administration denied its March 25th Executive Order had any substantial impact in spreading the virus in our nursing homes as to what the Governor defined as a wild fire through dry grass. We now know that the Governor and his staff conspired to cover this data up because it didn’t fit with the false narrative in his book that he was Andrew Cuomo: Covid Slayer. Now that the Cuomo Administration is the subject of a federal criminal investigation for its handling of the nursing home cover-up, we must ensure that a terrible tragedy like this never happens again.
I want to thank Senator Sue Serino for her efforts in helping to organize this remembrance ceremony, and all my colleagues for their support. I especially want to thank all the family members who lost lost loved ones or participating and sharing your personal stories, including Dan Mathias of Clifton Park, who I represent. Dan lost his mother, Doris, to COVID while in a Buffalo area nursing home.
We will keep the pressure on for a truly independent, bipartisan investigation with subpoena power, as I’ve called for with Assemblyman Ron Kim, to get all the facts, bring justice to the families and prevent something like this from happening again.