On Tuesday, September 10, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be testifying publicly before Congress for the first time regarding his COVID-19 nursing home policies and the March 25, 2020, directive that brought in over 9,000 coronavirus patients into care facilities across the state. Many of us will be very interested in the subcommittee’s findings and their report, which will be made public in the next few weeks.
Our families have been waiting years for this moment, and it’s hard to put into words what it will be like to finally be in the same room as the person who many of us believe had a hand in the deaths of our loved ones. I’ve said many times that had Gov. Cuomo expressed any kind of remorse for his actions, met with families or wrote condolence cards instead of chasing a $5 million dollar book deal while tens of thousands of New Yorkers were dying alone, we wouldn’t be where we are today: still waiting for answers and accountability.
When I told close friends that I would be heading to D.C., to watch Andrew Cuomo be questioned in front of congress, some asked how I was feeling. To be honest, I don’t know that I’ve truly processed those emotions. Over the last four years, I’ve been a very loud advocate, turning grief into action, writing essays, doing interviews and meeting with lawmakers to ask them to please conduct a fair bipartisan investigation into how our government handled this once and a lifetime pandemic.
Sadly, here in New York, it has never happened. But in Washington, D.C., there is an interest in finding answers, and I’m grateful to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic for taking on an issue that New York has long tried to bury.
I have gotten to know many other grieving families over the years. Our shared tragedies have brought us together, and we’ll be watching our former governor on Tuesday together.
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I asked my sister-in-law Donna Johnson and my friends Vivian Zayas and Peter Arbeeny to share their feelings before we head to D.C. on Tuesday about finally being there, just a few feet away from the former governor who seemed to never care about our families or what we went through in the spring of 2020.
Here are their responses:
"Being in the same room with the son of the great Mario Cuomo, who personally met with my mother long ago and was person she admired. Mario inspired me to become a Democrat and when given the chance, I voted for his son Andrew Cuomo. Andrew should have accepted our family’s invitation to meet at our father’s house and apologize.
This congressional public hearing, brings me one step closer to my promise that I made my dad after his passing 4-1/2 years ago. I promised him that I would not visit the cemetery till we had an investigation into why we were lied to by the Cuomo administration."
"Nearly five years have passed since my mother’s death, and I never imagined this day would come. I’ve fought tirelessly for this moment, through pain, through grief, and through countless setbacks. And now, to be just feet away from him—this man whose decisions took so much from me and so many others—fills me with a mix of emotions I can hardly describe. The anger I’ve carried, the sadness that never leaves, the determination that has fueled me, all collide in this one moment. But my resolve has never been stronger. I will look him in the eye, and he will know that I am still here, unyielding, fighting for the justice that my mother—and so many others—deserved.
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My mother’s life mattered. Her death, like the thousands of other elderly who perished, could have been prevented. His mother was not more important than mine, and his decisions will not be buried with them. We, the families left behind, are just as defiant as he is—determined to seek justice for those who deserved far better. The elderly needed protection, and instead, they were left exposed and vulnerable. He failed them, and in doing so, he failed us.
Holding him accountable is necessary, as is holding everyone else accountable who took part in these decisions."
"Although I am quite anxious since finding out we are going to be at the testimony of Andrew Cuomo in person, I have the horror of what my family lived through fresh in the front my mind. Don’t misunderstand me, it has always been in my mind. I just try to store it a little further back. I am also feeling discouraged because I have never heard the disgraced ex-governor tell the truth.
What I would like to see during this testimony is accountability, and truth for once. It is something we need to know.
As a senior myself, there are no guarantees I won’t end up in an Assisted Living or Rehabilitation Facility someday, and I need to know what decisions Andrew Cuomo made to be certain that history will never repeat itself.
It’s been 4 years of no accountability. The truth is long overdue."
As for me, I think I will have to wait to share my feelings. Part of me wants to forgive Andrew Cuomo, because those who talk about forgiveness say it’s for the person who has been hurt more than the one that hurt them. But I’m not there yet. And I don’t think Andrew Cuomo is all of a sudden going to pretend he’s remorseful or empathetic.
Instead, I believe Andrew Cuomo will do as he always does: deflect, blame everyone else and lie to protect himself instead of what he should have done from the beginning: protecting our loved ones, which he pledged he would do through a once in a lifetime pandemic.
