Beach attendees from Queens to Long Island tweeted a photo and video, respectively, of the plane flying overhead on Friday and Saturday with the critical banner in tow. A message displayed on its surface read “The Gov Killed Nana,” apparently referencing the nursing home crisis that has killed thousands since the coronavirus outbreak began.
Details about the plane and pilot remained unknown on Tuesday, although both videos shared to Twitter over the weekend appeared to show the same small aircraft. Rich Azzopardi, senior adviser to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, suggested “conspiracy nuts” were responsible for the banner in comments to the New York Post on Sunday.
“Everyone knows this governor has worked day in and day out to protect all New Yorkers and that’s why these sad politically motivated lies always land with a thud, and I have no comment on how conspiracy nuts want to waste their money,” Azzopardi said in a statement to the newspaper.
Cuomo has faced ongoing backlash for his role in an early pandemic order that prohibited long-term care facilities from turning away prospective residents, including those recently discharged from local hospitals after testing positive for the coronavirus. At least 6,639 nursing home residents across the state died as a result of COVID-19 by the end of August, according to data released by the Long Term Care Community Coalition.
That number may not account for thousands of additional deaths in New York’s long-term care facilities related to COVID-19. A few weeks before the coalition’s most recent update, an Associated Press report noted the state’s nursing home fatality toll excludes residents who died after being transported from long-term care facilities to area hospitals. This is not the case in other states.
On July 20, the New York State Department of Health issued a revised report reviewing factors that led to the heightened incidence of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. The report cited infections among staff members—and visitors prior to the implementation of New York’s stay-at-home order—as more likely causes than the governor’s March 25 mandate. Health officials said the data “does not support” the suggestion that Cuomo’s order contributed to the elevated mortality count, and published figures indicate New York’s per capita nursing home death rate is lower than those in adjacent states.
Newsweek reached out to Cuomo’s office for additional comments regarding the aerial banner but did not receive a reply in time for publication.
