overnor Cuomo’s top aide admitted privately to Democrat lawmakers that the Cuomo administration withheld the number of COVID-19 nursing-home deaths in the state out of concern that the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors, The New York Post reported Thursday night.
Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa made the stunning admission during a two-hour-plus video conference call on Wednesday with state Democratic leaders, in which she blamed former president Trump for the Cuomo administration’s evasiveness. In reaction to the bombshell report, some Republican lawmakers are now demanding that the governor be prosecuted.
New York Attorney General Letitia James alleged in a damning report from last month that Gov. Cuomo’s administration drastically undercounted nursing home deaths in the state.
Health Commissioner Howard Zucker released figures showing that as of Wednesday, the total number of nursing home deaths in the state was 13,297. The Post reported that the number “jumps to 15,049 when assisted living/adult care facilities are factored in.”
The DOH had previously publicly acknowledged only 8,711 deaths in N.Y. nursing homes, according to the Post. Read more…
