Hillary Clinton thanks Andrew Cuomo for 'making responsible decisions to keep people safe'

Hillary Clinton lauded New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's response to the coronavirus pandemic and thanked state leaders for keeping people safe on Memorial Day.

"I'm missing our Chappaqua Memorial Day parade today while also feeling grateful to leaders like [Cuomo] for making responsible decisions to keep people safe," Clinton wrote. "Wishing everyone a safe and healthy holiday. @BillClinton and I will be waving our flags at home."

Clinton, who represented New York in the U.S. Senate from 2001 to 2009, included a photograph of herself alongside Cuomo at a previous Memorial Day celebration. The tweet was met with icy reactions on Twitter as many found it insensitive for Clinton to be thanking Cuomo for keeping people safe when the governor has been criticized for a now-reversed policy that forced nursing homes to take in thousands of coronavirus patients from hospitals.

An executive order by Cuomo signed in late March mandated that nursing homes readmit coronavirus patients after they no longer needed hospitalization. Critics believe this policy caused the virus to rip through nursing homes filled with victims in the most vulnerable age group.

Cuomo repealed the policy earlier this month and forbade hospitals from discharging patients back into nursing homes until they have fully recovered, but the Democrat defended order by asserting hospitals were at the risk of being overrun and could not manage to care for any nonessential patients.

Clinton, who has raised millions of dollars for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, has openly criticized President Trump's response to the pandemic. She said his administration has not had a plan to address the virus and that U.S. citizens suffered as a result.

"It appears the plan is, shamefully, to have no plan," she said in early May. "Americans will suffer. We must replace this administration in November."