NYC Mayor Adams bashes ex-Gov. Cuomo management of COVID crisis

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Mar 24, 2025

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NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams attacked ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of COVID and his nursing home scandal on Monday — escalating his criticism of the former governor gunning for his job.

“Someone said, well, he’s a great manager. Well, he darn sure didn’t manage that crisis well,” Adams said of Cuomo at a press briefing Monday.

Both Adams and Cuomo have largely refrained from bashing each other openly, instead resorting to more veiled jabs. But with Adams losing both financial backers and political endorsers to Cuomo, he appears to be ratcheting up the attacks against his opponent.

This comes a day after nine mayoral candidates, excluding Cuomo and Adams, gathered to memorialize the anniversary of an order Cuomo gave as governor for nursing homes to readmit patients who had tested positive for COVID.

The patients’ families, as well as many elected officials, say Cuomo’s 2020 directive caused thousands of deaths, and in 2021 state Attorney General Letitia James found that Cuomo’s administration had undercounted thousands of COVID-related deaths in nursing homes.

“He incorrectly handled the nursing home issue,” Adams said. “I think those family members are right, and I met with them, and I’m going to be communicating with them further.”

The mayor also said there were racial disparities in how Cuomo distributed vaccines and protective supplies like masks, as well as how hospitals were supported overall.

“… It was because of defunding and destabilizing those hospitals that when they became ground zero … they were not prepared,” Adams said.

Cuomo spokesperson Jason Elan told the Daily News that New York’s nursing home admission guidance was consistent with federal guidance, and that Adams’ comment did not take into account national PPE shortages at the time.

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