Cuomo defends decision to delay release of data on Covid-19 deaths in long-term care facilities in New York

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Cuomo said the Health Department had “paused” the state legislatures’ request for the data because they prioritized a related Justice Department investigation. He said both chambers of the state legislature had been informed of this at the time.

In addition, he said the Department of Health had largely put data requests on the back burner and prioritized addressing the immediate pandemic crisis, which he acknowledged had created a “void” of facts that could allow misinformation to creep in.

“In hindsight, should we have given more priority to fulfilling information requests? In my opinion, yes, and I think that’s what created the void. But do I understand the pressure everyone was under? Yes,” he said.

New York Governor's top assistant admits administration has delayed release of Covid-19 deaths in long-term care facilities over concerns over federal investigation
“And actually we stood still because then we were in a position where we were not sure if what we were going to give to the Justice Department or what we were going to give you, what we were starting to say would be used when we were not sure whether there would be an investigation, ”DeRosa said over the phone call, according to a transcript released Friday by the governor’s office.
The revelations undermine Cuomo’s self-hyped reputation as a straight gunner, honed at daily press conferences last spring as the new coronavirus swept through New York. His communicative approach was in marked contrast to former President Trump’s lies and false assurances that the virus was under control and would disappear.

In the wake of DeRosa’s admission, Democratic leaders in the state legislature are in active discussions to draft a bill to repeal Cuomo’s extensive executive power during the pandemic.

“There is momentum towards removing its powers,” a source told CNN.

The source said there was support for the removal of Cuomo’s extended powers before the assistant’s comments were made public, but now “it is definitely going to happen.” A bill is likely to be submitted to the state legislature this week, to be voted on early next week.

However, Cuomo said on Monday there was no connection between the questions about the nursing home and his emergency powers, and said his legal actions, according to Covid-19, are only meant to protect the public.

“These are public health decisions,” he said. “They are not local political decisions and must be made on the basis of public health.”

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At the heart of the issue revolves around whether health officials from Cuomo and New York could have prevented the state’s nearly 46,000 Covid-19 deaths, the second most of all U.S. states.
A particular focus of this question was on the state’s decision to send thousands of patients recovering from Covid-19 infections from hospitals back to nursing homes. Cuomo has long said that this decision was based on federal guidelines to do so under the theory that these patients were likely no longer contagious and that hospitals needed the space.

A second point of this question was to further investigate how many nursing home residents died in nursing homes and how many nursing home residents died in hospitals.

In late January, Attorney General Letitia James released a report finding that the New York State Department of Health had undercounted Covid-19 deaths among nursing home residents by about 50%.
In a statement on Friday, DeRosa sought to further explain her confession that the state was “frozen” during the call with lawmakers.
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“I explained that when we received the DOJ investigation, we had to temporarily set aside the legislature’s request to deal with the federal request first. We notified the houses at the time,” she said. “We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, and needed to immediately focus our resources on the second wave and vaccine rollout.”

In recent months, Cuomo has repeatedly tried to dismiss questions about the data on deaths in nursing homes as a “political attack”.

“What I would say is that everyone did their best. When I say that the State Department of Health – as the report said – the State Department of Health was following federal guidelines. So if you think there was a mistake, go talk. with the federal government, ” he said on January 29.

It’s not about pointing fingers or guilt. It is that this became a political football right. See if someone died in a hospital or died in a nursing home. It’s … people died. People died. ‘

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