Cuomo admits family had access to COVID testing, says not involved on ‘intimate level’

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo on Wednesday admitted that some members of his family had access to COVID testing last spring when supplies were scarce, but denied overseeing the matter.

The governor has faced criticism following reports that close associates, as well as his brother, mother and other relatives, were among those who received prioritized testing early on in the pandemic.

“I was not involved in the testing program to that intimate level,” Cuomo said during a budget briefing.

Reports in recent weeks detailed how top-level state doctors and Department of Health employees were dispatched to administer tests to the governor’s relatives, including his brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo.

Tests for the “VIPs” were rushed by State Police to a lab in Albany, where they were completed ahead of others awaiting results, according to reports.

Cuomo, already under fire for withholding the true number of COVID deaths in nursing homes and facing an impeachment investigation and calls for his resignation over sexual harassment allegations, said it was common practice for people around him to be tested.

“People who I would meet with and I would be in exposure with, I was aware they were being tested,” he said. “So, if you came to see me in my office, you would be tested. And that applied with my family also, but the Assembly is doing a review on that and I would let them do it.”

A nurse dispatched to test VIP patients found the situation “morally problematic.”

The unnamed nurse told the Washington Post last week that they and others were stationed at an operations center in New Rochelle, the initial epicenter of the outbreak in New York, and sent out to run tests in private residences and hotel rooms.

Cuomo’s relatives were treated like royalty, they added. Using the power of government for the preferential treatment of family and friends could violate state anti-nepotism laws.

Reports of the special access come as Cuomo continues to fight for his political life amid sexual harassment allegations and calls for his resignation from Republicans and Democrats alike.

The governor has dug in his heels and is refusing to step down as he faces an independent investigation into his conduct being overseen by Attorney General Letitia James and a federal probe into his administration’s handling of COVID deaths in nursing homes.

Cuomo has also come under fire for writing a book about leadership mid-pandemic and potentially using state and campaign resources to work on and promote the tome.

The Assembly launched a wide-ranging impeachment probe last month that will delve into not only the sexual harassment allegations and Cuomo’s handling of nursing home deaths, but will also look at any preferred treatment for the governor’s family and allies and the controversial book deal he inked at the height of the pandemic.

Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Lavine (D-Nassau) told committee members and lawyers that the investigation will likely take “months, rather than weeks.”