Top aides of Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reportedly pressured state health department officials to alter a report to remove the total number of nursing home residents who died from the coronavirus.
The report comes as the embattled governor faces accusations of covering up the impact of the pandemic on New York’s elderly population, as well as allegations of sexual harassment from two former staff members. The governor’s aides’ purported role in editing the health department report suggests that the cover up of New York’s nursing home data began much earlier than previously thought and as Cuomo began writing a book touting his leadership during the pandemic.
As The New York Times reported:
Top aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo were alarmed: A report written by state health officials had just landed, and it included a count of how many nursing home residents in New York had died in the pandemic.
The number — more than 9,000 by that point in June — was not public, and the governor’s most senior aides wanted to keep it that way. They rewrote the report to take it out, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The extraordinary intervention, which came just as Mr. Cuomo was starting to write a book on his pandemic achievements, was the earliest act yet known in what critics have called a monthslong effort by the governor and his aides to obscure the full scope of nursing home deaths.
Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, one of the top aides who requested changes to the report, according to The Wall Street Journal, told Democratic lawmakers during a February meeting that the Cuomo administration had purposely undercounted the impact of COVID-19 on nursing home residents out of fear that the Trump administration would politicize the data and use it as a pretext to investigate Cuomo over his handling of the pandemic.
Federal investigators began seeking nursing home data from states in August. The new reports suggest that Cuomo’s aides were taking steps to hide the state’s nursing home data a month earlier. Cuomo’s administration is now facing investigations from the Department of Justice and FBI.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James released a report in January showing that the Cuomo administration had knowingly undercounted the number of deaths from COVID-19 among the state’s nursing home residents by about half.
The co-founder of advocacy group VoicesForSeniors, whose mother died in a New York nursing home, says revelations about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home coronavirus policy may help get justice for those affected by the order.
“We’re just happy that this is coming out. It helps us to be able to get justice for our seniors,” Vivian Zayas told “America’s Newsroom” on Friday.
After her mother, Ana Martinez, contracted COVID-19 and died in a New York nursing home, Zayas founded VoicesForSeniors with her sister, Alexa Rivera. Zayas said she and others who were critical of Cuomo early on were initially accused of spreading misinformation.
“We knew all along,” Zayas said. “We were being accused of being conspiracy theorists and misinformation spreaders.”
“And here we are realizing that he’s the one all along who is spreading misinformation,” she said of the governor.
Cuomo has faced criticism for his order requiring nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive patients released from hospitals. The directive was enacted on March 25 and rescinded in May.
Zayas told Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino both truth about the policy and reforms to senior care facilities are needed to bring closure to families.
“The justice comes first from the truth, which is slowly leaking out,” Zayas said. “And second, it comes with reform, so that us, families who’ve lost someone have been broken after this fire through dry grass would be able to get some closure.”
“Justice in our hearts, which are forever broken, will never be one hundred percent,” Zayas added.
VoicesForSeniors’ mission is to “significantly improve the quality of life for our most vulnerable, elderly communities through grassroots initiatives and advocacy for protective legislation and reform,” according to the group’s official website.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.