New York Democratic governor in battle Andrew Cuomo admitted on Monday that he should have acted earlier to release relevant data related to COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes amid growing criticism of the way his government dealt with the scandal.
In his first press conference since reports surfaced that his office underreported or withheld critical information about deaths in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo said that all relevant information was “reported in full, publicly and accurately.” When asked if he felt the need to apologize, the New York governor said his team’s failure to address concerns publicly created a “vacuum” that allowed “conspiracy theories” to spread.
“We made a mistake in creating the void,” said Cuomo. “We made a mistake in creating the void when we didn’t provide information, allowing the press, cynics and politicians to fill the void.”
CUOMO AIDE SAID THE NY DEMOCRATS ADMINISTRATION HIDDEN DOMESTIC NURSING DATA TO KEEP FROM TRUMP DOJ: REPORT
Cuomo has faced calls to resign since the Associated Press reported that his government has significantly underestimated the number of recovering COVID-19 patients who were sent back to nursing homes to recover under a controversial order he implemented last March. The Associated Press found that nearly 15,000 long-term care patients died of COVID-19 in nursing homes, out of the approximately 8,500 deaths previously reported.
Criticism intensified after Cuomo’s aide, Melissa DeRosa, admitted during a private call that the government withheld data requested by New York state legislatures because they feared they could be “used against us” by the Department of Justice of the United States. then President Donald Trump.
DeRosa later clarified that “he 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 of this at the time,” said Cuomo’s aide in a note. “We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, so we immediately had to focus our resources on the second wave and the launch of the vaccine.”
Disclosures about the withheld data sparked bipartisan protests, with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio among local lawmakers who asked that Cuomo be removed from his emergency powers. Lawmakers gave Cuomo broad authority to enact orders and change laws without legislative approval at the beginning of the pandemic last March.
When asked about pressure to remove his emergency powers, Cuomo noted that the state legislature could override any of its executive actions by vote, but had not done so since the pandemic began.
Cuomo argued that a “toxic political environment” contributed to the backlash against his government in recent days. The governor said his team “paused” a state request for data to focus on complying with the Justice Department’s request.
The governor said his team informed New York State and Senate officials that the data request was on hold until the DOJ was answered last August.
“We gave precedence to the DOJ. We told the assembly, we told the Senate and that is what we did. We were also in the middle of managing a pandemic,” said Cuomo.
New York state senator Alessandra Biaggi, a Democrat, was among lawmakers who rejected that claim.
“No, @NYGovCuomo, you did not tell * the whole * Senate or Assembly that there was a DOJ investigation, as the reason why you did not disclose the numbers for nursing homes,” said Biaggi in a statement. “I found out about a DOJ investigation with the rest of New York residents in the @nypost story on Thursday night.”
New York State Democratic Senator Gustavo Rivera also rejected Cuomo’s claim.
Cuomo also addressed the reaction against his March 25 order by asking nursing homes to accept recovering patients with COVID-19. The governor said the memo was based on federal guidance and said that patients were only discharged to facilities that agreed and acknowledged that they were equipped to accept them.
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The Democrat added that of the 365 nursing homes that received a patient recovering with COVID_19 from a hospital, 98% of facilities had already reported exposure to COVID-19 prior to the patient’s reentry. Cuomo said asylum workers, not returning patients, probably brought the virus to the facility.
Cuomo said his team “did everything it could” to protect patients at nursing homes in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis.
“The last thing we wanted to do, the last thing I wanted to do, was to make a terrible situation worse,” he added.
This story has been updated.