Editor-At-Large of Jacobin Magazine David Sirota criticized Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) for signing legislation last month that protected hospital and nursing home executives from lawsuits related to the coronavirus outbreak.
The editor acknowledged that Cuomo is “acting in a crisis” but said the administration “had time to think about what it wanted to do” with the liability provision.
“It deliberately and stealthily inserted this provision into a routine annual spending bill,” he said. “So in other words it was very, very calculated.”
Sirota added that the liability protections continue to be a problem as New York nursing homes still face the pandemic.
“Legislators are saying that the problem is in part being fueled by exactly what Andrew Cuomo did,” he said.
New York is the hardest state to be hit by the coronavirus pandemic with 378,924 cases and 29,918 deaths, according to The New York Times.
The elderly and those with underlying health conditions are especially vulnerable to being infected by the coronavirus.
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