Chris Cuomo barred from covering brother Gov. Andrew Cuomo after he failed to report on New York’s nursing home scandal

The Cuomos have been a frequent duo on the network, with Governor Cuomo appearing on his brother's show regularly to discuss the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The move by CNN comes after Chris Cuomo failed to cover the recent controversy surrounding New York nursing homes, whereby the state of New York underreported coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes by a substantial margin, with reports suggesting as many as 50 percent went unreported.

It was later revealed by a top aide of Cuomo's that they underreported the deaths in order to prevent former President Donald Trump from attaining a political victory.

The incident is now being investigated by the FBI and the US District Attorney's Office. In the face of this federal probe into the scandal, Cuomo is also at risk of being stripped of his emergency powers, granted by the state legislature nearly a year ago.

Other CNN hosts have covered the scandal, but Cuomo, who spent so much time covering Cuomo in a light-hearted, jovial way, complete with giant Q-tips, is now prevented from having the on-air family reunions.

CNN released a statement justifying their decisions making both in the past and in the present. "The early months of the pandemic crisis were an extraordinary time. We felt that Chris speaking with his brother about the challenges of what millions of American families were struggling with was of significant human interest," reads a statement from CNN.

"As a result, we made an exception to a rule that we have had in place since 2013 which prevents Chris from interviewing and covering his brother, and that rule remains in place today."

New York State has seen nearly 1.6 million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, and over 46,000 deaths, second in fatalities only to California.