Howard Zucker, left, then-commissioner of the New York State Department of Health and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo discuss COVID-19 in 2020.

ALBANY — Five years ago, Andrew Cuomo’s administration quietly issued the nursing home order that changed everything for the former governor.

At that moment, on March 25, 2020, Cuomo was riding high as the nation’s trusted pandemic voice. The Democrat seemed to be authoritative and vigilant. He was, if you can believe it, something of a national folk hero.

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Yet the order requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients would be among the most consequential decisions of the pandemic and the beginning of the end for the governor, though he apparently knew nothing about it at the time. That’s what he told a House subcommittee last year, a claim supported by his response to a reporter’s question during the daily briefing on April 20, 2020.

“If you are tested positive for the virus, are you allowed to be admitted to a nursing home?” Cuomo asked, summarizing the question. “That’s a good question,” the governor added. “I don’t know.”

Howard Zucker, then the Health Department commissioner, answered the question.

“The policy is that........

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