When facing criticism, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has a simple playbook. Their first instinct is to dig in their heels. They insinuate that questions are being asked in bad faith. Legitimate oversight is waived off as politically motivated. 

If that doesn’t work, they try to blame President Donald Trump. 

Under normal circumstances, this is a frustrating, disappointing practice. When grieving families are looking for answers and accountability, it becomes something even worse — it’s inhumane. 

More than 5,800 New Yorkers have died from COVID-19 in our nursing-home facilities, the highest such death toll in the country. For some context, California has suffered 3,300 COVID deaths across the entire state. The statistics are grim, but the stories are much worse. The New York Times reported that “terrified residents were pleading with the outside world for help” as “the bodies of dead residents piled up in makeshift morgues.”

I cannot imagine how someone could argue that those nightmarish results are acceptable. It’s hard to fathom that a leader wouldn’t want to review the procedures and decisions that caused an unmitigated disaster that claimed thousands of vulnerable lives. The governor, however, recently dismissed questions into his administration’s nursing-home policies. 

“It’s the political season, I get it,” said the governor. Cuomo went on to blame President Trump, insisting that his outrageous decision to require New York nursing homes to accept COVID-19-positive patients was simply complying with CDC guidelines. 

That’s not true. The CDC guidelines counsel admittance of COVID-19 patients to nursing homes on a case-by-case basis that accounts for the facility’s resources, isolation capacity, and PPE. The CDC is clear: if a facility does not meet the rigorous standards laid out in its transmission-based precautions, the patient should not be admitted until he/she is no longer a transmission risk. 

 The directive from the governor’s health department on March 25 was a mandate to accept positive patients, period. 

The governor claims his number-one priority was our nursing home residents. That’s not true. His top priority at the time was maintaining emergency hospital capacity. It seems as though he did not want nursing-home patients who were recovering from the virus to occupy hospital beds needed for extremely ill patients requiring emergency care. In and of itself, that is not a terrible conclusion. 

 What’s inexcusable is sending positive patients right back to their nursing home, regardless of whether or not that facility had the ability protect its other vulnerable residents. What’s inexcusable is not pursuing other options, including isolating these recovering patients in empty hotels and dormitories. What’s unforgiveable is allowing COVID-19-positive nurses to continue working in nursing homes. What’s inexcusable is failing to develop strict isolation protocols, not delivering needed resources, and failing to hire emergency staff. Rather than develop a new plan to meet an unprecedented challenge, the governor simply shielded nursing-home operators from legal liability, stripping families of what little leverage they had to demand answers. 

 I’m calling for an independent investigation of the crisis in our nursing homes. We cannot let the governor blame the media. We cannot let the governor blame Washington, D.C. We need answers. It’s what our government needs to plan for the future. It’s what grieving families deserve right now.        

Brian M. Kolb (R,I,C–Canandaigua) represents the 131st Assembly District, which encompasses all of Ontario County and parts of Seneca County. Contact him at kolbb@nyassembly.gov

For decades after WWII, the U.S. stood across the world as a mighty colossus. We were the richest and strongest nation, and our history and institutions were the envy of all. 

 Naturally, the world looked to us for leadership. U.S. presidents were routinely regarded as leaders of the West or free world. The U.S. was the foremost advocate for a rules-based international order. We led through multilateral organizations like the U.N. and NATO, which we had largely shaped, and agreements like the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal. 

Today, while not as dominant as we once were, we are still at the top as a global power. But we are disengaging from the role of world leader.

We are not seeing enlightened, unselfish American leadership guiding this very divided, demoralized world. 

Instead of leading through cooperation with other like-minded powers, we are sliding into competition with China. The U.S. and China are the world’s leading powers. But China faces serious problems, including a slowing economy, an aging population, and enormous debt, which handicap its global ambitions.

The U.S. has its own problems, of course, including uncertain, if not erratic leadership. As the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear, President Donald Trump devalues expertise, rejects science, and prefers bilateral power politics to global leadership. He does not seek, and largely rejects, advice from U.S. global experts.

His approach has cost America a challenging opportunity to lead the world on the crucial issue of public health. For weeks, he denied the new coronavirus was a threat. Then he blamed others for failing to do more to prevent it. Disappointed with the leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO), he said we would stop funding it. 

Trump appears unconcerned about the plight of people in other countries, even our allies. His “America First” approach suggests their problems are of little concern. With China, he alternates between making verbal attacks and acting nice. He is attracted to dictators but indifferent or even hostile toward allies.

He searches for scapegoats, blaming the Federal Reserve for economic problems and the Congress for much of what goes wrong. 

Our disengagement creates a leadership vacuum. Not surprisingly, others are stepping in — China and the so-called middle countries, e.g. Australia and Brazil. Nations are looking for alternatives to American leadership on issues from climate change to trade to conflict resolution.

As America draws back, global issues are largely ignored, like nuclear proliferation, a threat that has dominated foreign affairs for years.

Our lack of robust leadership seriously weakens our leadership of a rules-based global order.

The world faces an endless line of problems: wars and conflicts, terrorism, cyberattacks, the rise of authoritarianism, the existential threat of climate change — and now a global pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands. These challenges should be addressed by robust American leadership. But that’s not happening.

We are in the best position to lead with the world’s largest economy, the greatest military might, and an endless line of talented officials and citizens.

It’s not too late, but we need to assert our leadership. The world sees an aggressive China, a weakened and divided Europe, and a president’s erratic leadership. This is a time of extraordinary opportunity for the U.S. to lead. 

The world needs that leadership now, more than ever.        

Lee Hamilton, 89, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south central Indiana.