Updated Mar 05, 2021 The Nursing Home Decision That Haunts Andrew Cuomo While New York’s governor comes under fire for sketchy data on nursing home deaths from COVID-19, New Jersey's governor wins praise for telling it straight. One year ago, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) made a decision that would come to haunt him. COVID-19 was pounding New York while much of the country watched the crisis that was to soon overtake their states as well. Taking advantage of emergency powers that allowed him to make pandemic policy unilaterally, Cuomo’s Department of Health informed nursing homes in late March that they could not deny admission to patients discharged from hospitals “solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.”