Cuomo, accused of hiding the true magnitude of the death toll among the vulnerable population, said at a news conference on Friday that he has not fought “misinformation” about the situation enough and that it has hurt New Yorkers who lost loved ones.
“I haven’t done it aggressively enough – we haven’t done it aggressively enough, taking the wrong information that hurt people and, of course, hurt for grieving families and that’s what I’m sorry about, I’m not going to do that wrong again Lies to the people of New York State, I’m gonna call it out. If you lie in a report, I call it out. If you lie in the paper because you have your own partisan agenda, I’m going to call it, “the governor.
The governor also announced sweeping nursing home reform legislation that he is proposing in changes to the state budget.
The reform aims to ensure that nursing home operators prioritize patient care over profit, increase the workforce and are held accountable for health and safety violations.
Cuomo said on Friday that he will not sign the budget without these reforms.
State lawmakers have already introduced a collection of bills to address some of these nursing home reforms and are expected to pass in the Senate next week.
Residents of long-term care facilities are responsible for more than 15,000 confirmed and suspected Covid-19 deaths in New York City since the start of the pandemic, according to the State Department of Health.
Until last month, the state only publicly reported the deaths of residents who died in an institution, not those who succumbed to the virus after being transferred to a hospital or elsewhere.
“It’s a lie to say all the numbers were inaccurate. That’s a lie. Total deaths were always reported for nursing homes and hospitals,” Cuomo said.
The governor did not comment on news reported by CNN earlier this week that the U.S. law firm in Brooklyn, along with the FBI, is scrutinizing the handling of some data on Covid-19 deaths in long-term care facilities in New York. takes.
Governor defends his decisions
Cuomo doubled down on Friday in his defense of government handling of public records of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, reiterating points he had previously made about prioritizing a Justice Department investigation over a legislative request from the able to provide similar information.
“We interrupted the state request and we told them we had interrupted the state requests. They were told and they knew. And we gave DOJ right of way, yes, because that’s how it works,” he said.
The governor said he agrees with state legislatures that it is time to “move on”.
“I’ve talked to legislators and we agree we’re in the middle of a real pandemic. We’ve got a lot going on. And we need to put politics aside and move on and have a more constructive dialogue,” Cuomo said.
Meanwhile, New York State Senate leaders are pushing for a bill that would repeal the current law granting Cuomo extensive executive powers and create a legislative mechanism that would avoid unilateral directives from the governor’s office during a state of emergency, according to a legislative source that is familiar with the bill. discussions.
“We have made the right public health decision,” said the official
Dr. Howard Zucker, New York State Health Commissioner, told in what appeared to be a pre-written speech how the department handled the Covid-19 spread in March.
Zucker said he ultimately feels they made the right decision with the much-discussed March 25 order that sent thousands of Covid-19 patients to nursing homes. State officials ended the policy on May 8.
“March 25th was not the cause of Covid infections, it was not the cause of Covid fatalities. The facts are the facts,” said Zucker.
Asymptomatic workers were the main cause of the spread of Covid-19 in long-term care facilities, according to the health commissioner. He said his department had identified 37,000 nursing home employees who had been infected with the virus last spring.
Zucker said 98% of the 365 facilities that received Covid-19 patients from a hospital under the admission policy already had the virus in the facility when those patients were submitted.
He said 132 nursing homes that never took a patient under the policy still had Covid-19 fatalities.
“We made the right public health decision at the time, and faced with the same facts, we would make the same decisions again,” said Zucker.
Zucker is expected to testify at a legislative hearing on health care budget with lawmakers next Thursday.
The governor offered a formal apology to Zucker and the health department during the press conference for enduring “baseless” and “unscrupulous attacks.”
“I want to thank Dr. Zucker and all the health personnel for the great work,” Cuomo said. “I’m sorry you have to do it in a bad political environment, but that’s where we are. I’m sorry you had to deal with COVID, I’m sorry you had to deal with the pandemic. I’m sorry that you had to miss your family seven days a week, and I am sorry that you had to be abused in the party politics of the time. “
Shimon Prokupecz and CNN’s Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.