The nursing homes already had employees and residents infected with the coronavirus before Cuomo issued that directive. NY also wasn't the only state doing that. I know that in my state, nursing homes never kicked out any residents or kept residents from returning. Residents continued to get dialysis and go to nearby hospitals that were treating coronavirus patients all last year. It was business as usual for nursing homes.
There also wasn't a lot of transparency as far as infected employees, either. If they had followed the same rules as restaurants, for instance, nursing homes would've had to close down every time an employee or resident tested positive. What would that have meant for all of the nursings homes across the country? Half, and in some states over half, of all fatalities state-wide were residents in nursing homes. So why all the focus on Cuomo when he wasn't the only governor who did that early on? Anyone want to guess?