Cuomo facing backlash for coronavirus nursing home deaths
Fox News' Bryan Llenas discusses why legislators in New York are calling for an independent investigation into whether or not the state's policies led to needless deaths in nursing homes.
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo again did not address the growing nursing-home controversy in his latest interview with his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and instead performed some prop comedy on Wednesday night.
Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, recently reversed a March 25 order that forced nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for coronavirus, despite testing deficiencies for both residents and staff. Cuomo signed an executive order on May 11 stopping hospitals from sending infected patients back to nursing homes and ramping up testing for staff.
Nearly 5,800 people have died from COVID-19 in nursing homes in New York. Roughly 20 percent of all deaths in the state have occurred in nursing homes.
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However, in the roughly 25-minute sit-down with the governor on Wednesday night, Chris Cuomo made no mention of that growing death toll, something Andrew Cuomo is facing increased scrutiny over.
The banter marathon between the two brothers later turned into physical comedy after the CNN anchor played a clip of his brother taking a coronavirus test where a nurse placed a cotton swab up his nostril.
"Is it true that this was the swab that the nurse was actually using on you?" the primetime host asked his brother while holding an overly-sized cotton swab.
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He then quickly followed by presenting him an even larger cotton swab, asking the governor if that was the one the nurse used on him.
There was only one mention of nursing homes during the entire interview, which was when Andrew Cuomo was boasting about the state's increased coronavirus testing capabilities and listed nursing homes and prisons among the sites that they have been administered.
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CNN did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Andrew Cuomo has been interviewed on CNN at least 20 times since March 8, with his younger brother conducting now 10 of them.
"CNN's coverage of Andrew Cuomo has been consistent with much of the media, focus on the glowing verbiage and ignore the catastrophic mishandling of nursing homes that led to thousands of deaths," Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News.
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"This problem is compounded by a serious conflict of interest arising from the relationship between Chris Cuomo, one of CNN's highest-profile news personalities, and his brother the Governor," Jacobson added. "Chris Cuomo should not be allowed to cover or comment on air about his brother, and CNN should appoint someone to monitor and review coverage of Andrew Cuomo to prevent this conflict of interest from bleeding over to other news coverage."
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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