New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s aides revealed that state laws were very flexible on nursing homes, noting that no facility has lost its licenses despite the widespread deaths of COVID-19.
“I think a lot of these nursing homes, frankly, in retrospect, even before COVID have been getting away with it for years,” Governor Cuomo’s secretary Melissa DeRosa said, according to the audio from last week’s conference call with Democratic lawmakers. evaluated by The New York Post.
“I think if there is any evidence that someone was intentional or negligent in a way that goes beyond the normal course that costs people’s lives, I think we all share the same goal, which is to hold them accountable,” DeRosa added.
BRIAN STELTER OF CNN IGNORA BOMBSHELL DEVELOPMENT IN CUOMO’S HOME NURSING SCANDAL
But when pressed by state senator James Skoufis (D-Orange) about what measures the state has taken to hold nursing homes accountable, Cuomo’s lawyer Beth Garvey acknowledged that the revocation of nursing home licenses “has not yet taken place”.
“We have a significant due process, obviously, for those operators that we have to go through and hearings with,” said Garvey. “So these are still in progress.”
When asked if any facilities have been put into liquidation, Garvey said that no recipients have been named so far.
GOWDY: THE BIDEN UNIT PUSH SHOULD START WITH CUOMO NURSING VICTIMS
The New York Department of Health carried out 2,284 asylum infection control inspections between the start of the pandemic and February 4. However, the audits resulted in only 170 violations, totaling about $ 1.3 million in fines, with a $ 10,000 per piece limit.
“Ten thousand dollars is really the most we can assess for a violation, even an intentional violation of a public health law,” explained Garvey.
Skoufis argues that the amount “seems low, given the type of knowledge we are all operating with”, pointing out that the violations would be about $ 7,650 per infraction, an amount he said was just “a slap in the face”.
THE SCANDAL OF CUOMO NURSING HOME COVERUP SEEMS OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE: ZELDIN
DeRosa acknowledged the need to step up enforcement, noting that state officials can explore ways to streamline the process.
“I think this is something that we should review, I think that we should increase the penalties,” she said. “I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t have due process. But if there is a way to change the law to make some of it faster, we should do it.”
Cuomo’s spokesman Rich Azzopardi told FOX News in a statement that lawmakers “seemed to agree with us that the fines were very low” and that “further action is needed to further protect patients in these facilities.” He added that there is a commitment to “discuss these vital changes more in depth”.
NY GOV. BROTHER OF CUOMO QUIET IN BIG BROTHER’S NURSING SCANDAL
The comments were made during the same meeting at which DeRosa revealed that the state delayed the release of data related to COVID-19 deaths in long-term institutions due to concerns about a possible federal investigation.
“I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily void the Legislature’s request to deal with the federal request first. We informed the houses at the time. We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, and so we had to focus our resources immediately in the second wave and at the launch of the vaccine, “DeRosa said in a statement. “As I said in a liaison with lawmakers, we could not respond to their request as quickly as anyone would like. But we are committed to being a better partner going forward, as we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible. during a pandemic. “
But on the private call, DeRosa said the government “froze” because he was not sure what information would be passed on to the Department of Justice and did not want any information passed on to lawmakers to be used against the Cuomo government.
“The letter arrives at the end of August and at about the same time, President Trump turns this into a giant political football. He starts to tweet that we kill everyone in nursing homes, he starts to go after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, start chasing [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, start chasing [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer, “she said, according to the partial transcript of the meeting released by the governor’s office.” He instructs the Department of Justice to do an investigation on us. He meets a person at the DOJ, who has since been fired because that person is now known to be a political hacker, who sends letters to all these different governors. And basically, we froze, because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give the Department of Justice or what we gave you, what we started to say would be used against us even though we weren’t sure if there would be an investigation . “
DeRosa then apologized to Democratic lawmakers for the position they took due to the data.
“I know it’s not fair,” she said. “It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
In the past few weeks, a court order and a report by the state attorney general has forced the state to recognize that the death toll in nursing homes is almost 15,000, when it previously reported 8,500 – a figure that excluded residents who died after being taken away. for hospitals. The new number reached about a seventh of the people living in nursing homes in 2019 in New York.
The Associated Press contributed to this report