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Because most national media outlets would rather coddle NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) instead of ask him hard questions about the nursing home scandal taking place in the state of the New York, many people probably don’t know that Cuomo actually had the gall this week to blame President Trump for the fact that nursing homes in New York were forced to accept patients infected with the Wuhan coronavirus.

Cuomo’s decision in late March to mandate nursing homes accept these patients proved to be deadly, as the state now has more nursing home deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus than any other state in the country – and the numbers are likely much higher.

For those who missed it, here’s what Gov. Cuomo said:

Critics should “ask President Trump” about it, the governor said Wednesday, arguing that the federal government actually cooked up the mandate — and that New York was just following Washington’s lead.

“Anyone who wants to ask, ‘Why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes,’ it’s because the state followed President Trump’s CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance,” Cuomo told reporters in Albany who pressed him on whether he had any regrets about the directive, which may have played a role in the deaths of thousands of nursing home residents.

“They should ask President Trump. I think that will stop the conversation,” he repeated.

In spite of Cuomo’s imperious-like decree that the buck for his decisions stops with President Trump, and in spite of the radio silence of most national media outlets on this issue, the “conversation” has not been “stopped” – not by a long shot.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) made sure of that when she took to the Twitter machine earlier today to set the record straight in a Twitter thread on just how wrong Gov. Cuomo actually is:

Governor Cuomo continues to point fingers at the federal government.

But here are the FACTS regarding CDC guidance:

The Governor’s decisions to MANDATE that nursing homes accept COVID-19 patients completely disregards the case-by-case approach recommended by CDC.

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) May 21, 2020

CDC guidance was clear that decisions about discharging COVID-19 patients should be based on the ability of the accepting facility to meet the recommended infection control practices. This includes the ability to place residents in a designated COVID-19 care unit that is equipped

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) May 21, 2020

with the resources and PPE to safely prevent the spread of infections. Additionally, CDC guidance states that if nursing homes are unable to follow CDC guidance for COVID-19 patients under Transmission-Based Precautions, they must wait until these patients are no longer

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) May 21, 2020

a transmission risk before accepting them. Governor Cuomo’s MANDATE requires acceptance regardless of a nursing homes capacity to safely accept COVID-19 positive cases.

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) May 21, 2020

She also retweeted former NY Gov. George Pataki (R), who posted a copy of the actual mandate, noting it was Cuomo’s decision to force the issue with NY’s nursing homes, not Trump’s:

@NYGOVCUOMO effort to blame @realdonaldtrump for his disastrous nursing home policies is complete nonsense. It was Cuomo’s DOH directive for nursing homes to take infected people. NO MENTION OF CDC. WHY did he wait 47 DAYS to reverse policy? Did #POTUS tell him to do that too? pic.twitter.com/5qB0lJGywp

— George E. Pataki (@GovernorPataki) May 20, 2020

To put a finer point on it, the highlighted parts below are the most relevant on this issue:

Also here is the NY state Nursing Home directive from the Governor. pic.twitter.com/6SxtjYqzlH

— Manuel A. Cerdan (@ManuelACerdan1) May 21, 2020

With only a few exceptions, our Trump-hating media – especially Chris Cuomo and the crew at CNN – have made it super-easy for Cuomo to run away from the disastrous decisions he’s made in his state during the pandemic, but unfortunately for him he cannot hide from those failures.

Shame on any news media outlet that turns away from this story simply because it paints Cuomo in an unflattering light. You have a duty to cover this story, not to simply accept Cuomo’s pathetic excuses and move on. That’s not how actual journalism works. Not at all.