Protesters call on Andrew Cuomo to take responsibility for nursing home deaths and demand families be able to visit patients

A couple dozen protesters gathered outside of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office in Manhattan to demand he take responsibility for the thousands of nursing home deaths during the height of the coronavirus.

Protesters were spotted holding signs on Saturday that read, “Cuomo killed my mother!” “Cuomo To Seniors: Drop Dead,” and “Let families in now,” referring to demands that he allow families to visit loved ones in nursing homes after six months of being denied entrance.

The Democrat has been criticized for issuing an order on March 25 that required some recovering coronavirus patients to be placed into nursing homes. So far, at least 6,400 New York residents died in nursing homes from complications with the coronavirus.

“It’s been six months since we have been allowed to visit our loved ones,” protest organizer Marcella Goheen told the New York Post. “We have been demanding to have essential care visitations since mid-May, and they are only starting to listen to us now.”

Goheen said she wants Cuomo to sign an executive order to allow nursing home visits because the patients are missing out on a vital part of life by not seeing family members.

“We are losing another round of people to isolation and failure to thrive,” she said.

Goheen’s husband, Robert, has been in a nursing home for a degenerative neurological disorder called leukodystrophy, the New York Post reported.

“He’s stable. The staff is doing the best they can, but the staff needs to be in partnership with the families," she said. “For six months, he hasn’t gotten a family visit."

She added, “It’s a slow fade. His vitals are stable, but it’s a slow fade-out. It’s depression.”

Over Labor Day weekend, a banner reading “THE GOV KILLED NANA” was flown over beaches in New York City and Long Island.