New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Andrew CuomoRestaurants Faces Gloomy Valentine’s Day Overnight Health Care: CDC Calls for School Reopening With Precautions | Cuomo is increasingly critical of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes | Biden Officials Move To Begin Withdrawal of Medicaid Work Requirements Cuomo Becomes More Critical About COVID-19 Deaths in Nursing Homes MORE (D) on Monday defended his administration’s pandemic response, accepting some mistake himself, as scrutiny grows over how the state handled COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
The New York Governor confirmed at a press conference that the state Department of Health “ halted ” the investigation by state legislators into nursing home death records to prioritize tackling the general pandemic and the Justice Department’s request for similar information in August .
Cuomo noted that both chambers of the state legislature were aware of the department’s decision at the time that led to the “delay,” adding, “They can’t say they didn’t know. “
His press conference comes days after top assistant Melissa DeRosa told state lawmakers on a call that the government ‘froze’ information disclosure. Concerning deaths from long-term care facilities, the DOJ would launch a federal investigation – a revelation that has sparked a two-pronged response.
The governor acknowledged that the delay of his administration’s data created a “void” of facts, allowing misinformation, misinformation and conspiracy theories to spread.
“The void enabled misinformation and conspiracy, and now people are left thinking, ‘Did my beloved have to die?’ And that’s a relentless, relentless question to ask someone, ”he said. ‘And I want everyone to know that everything is done. Everything has been done in the best interest by the best minds. ‘
“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,” Cuomo said during the briefing. Monday.
State lawmakers criticized Cuomo’s defense on Monday, saying the government could have released data after examining the DOJ request in September rather than answering the legislature’s questions six months later, according to The New York Times.
New York has counted more than 15,000 COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and long-term care settings. But recently, in late January, the state had reported 8,500 deaths, disregarding those who died outside the facilities, such as after being transferred to a hospital.
Lawmakers have questioned whether the Cuomo government could have done more to prevent these deaths and the total 37,221 fatalities from COVID-19.
Last week, the New York Post first reported DeRosa’s comments on the call regarding the nursing home death information.
“And actually we stood still because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Justice Department or what we were going to give you, what we start to say would be used against us while we were not sure knew if there would be an investigation, ”she said, according to a transcript from Cuomo’s office.
DeRosa clarified her comments in a statement last week, saying, “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 of this 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.”
“As I said in a call with lawmakers, we couldn’t comply with their request as quickly as someone would have liked,” DeRosa added. “But we are determined to be better partners in the future as we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible during the pandemic.”
Criticism of the Cuomo government’s management of nursing homes has risen among congressional republicans for months. It came to a head when New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) released a report last month that concluded that the state had undercounted nursing home deaths by about 50 percent by those who died after going to hospitals brought out.
Updated at 9:32 PM