Independent report criticizes Cuomo’s ‘top-down’ management of New York’s COVID-19 response

NEW YORK (AP) — An investigation into New York’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic finds former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “top down” approach of dictating public health policy through his office sewed confusion during the crisis. However the independent probe commissioned by current Gov. Kathy Hochul and released Friday said the fatality rates at nursing homes were consistent with the rest of the country. In a statement, a Cuomo spokesperson has defended the former governor’s approach, saying: “We all lived through this and no rational person can believe that a coordinated centralized response is inferior to having decisions made by a gaggle of faceless bureaucrats.”