Cuomo defends coronavirus response, says 'the New Yorkers who died, did not die because we failed them'

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday, arguing that he did not bear responsibility for the deaths that occurred in his state.

"I think the New Yorkers who died, did not die because we failed them," Cuomo told ABC News' "Good Morning America." "We got them a hospital bed, which we didn’t know that we could. We got them a nurse with PPE [personal protective equipment], with a mask, with a gown. We got them a doctor. We got them a ventilator. Everyone who died, we did everything we could."

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Cuomo has received widespread criticism for his early order requiring that nursing homes accept COVID-19 patients who had been released from hospitals, effectively placing them in the same facilities housing the demographic most vulnerable to the virus.

As of Tuesday, official figures showed that 6,381 nursing home residents had died of the virus. However, that number does not include residents who died in hospitals or outside of nursing homes or long-term care facilities.

Cuomo previously claimed that the state was following Centers for Disease Control guidelines when the nursing home order was initially issued. But Politifact rated that claim "mostly false" last week, arguing that the CDC didn't force nursing homes' hands the way that Cuomo did in his March 25 order.

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However, Cuomo has received overwhelming praise for his handling of the pandemic. In a May poll, 81 percent of New York voters approved of his handling of the coronavirus response and only 17 percent disapproved.

Also Wednesday, Cuomo said he will hold the last of his daily press briefings about the pandemic response on Friday.

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"We’ll do briefings as necessary," Cuomo said. "I’m sure they will often be necessary, but we’re going to turn the page on the immediacy of this crisis."

As of Wednesday, New York reported more than 385,000 positive cases of COVID-19 and more than 24,600 deaths.

Fox News' Joseph Wulfsohn and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.