The Guardian
Cuomo aides altered report of deaths in nursing homes, health department confirms
The New York governor’s aides omitted 9,250 deaths from the report. Management says the changes were due to accuracy concerns Andrew Cuomo at a coronavirus meeting in Manhasset, New York, on May 6, 2020. Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images The New York State Department of Health confirmed reports that members of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Covid-19 task force amended a report by that same health department to omit the total number of nursing home patients killed by the coronavirus. But Cuomo’s administration insisted that the changes were made due to concerns over the accuracy of the data. New damaging allegations were published by the New York Times late on Thursday that Cuomo’s aides rewrote a report by state health officials to hide Covid-19 deaths among nursing home patients and strengthen their reputation as a leader. The newspaper said the cover-up attempt came at the beginning of last June’s effort by senior government officials to hide the extent of the pandemic that swept through New York, and sparked a furious battle with public health officials. The Wall Street Journal also released the story on Thursday and reports cited documents and people with knowledge of internal government discussions. Cuomo’s advisers rewrote the report, which was not yet public, to omit 9,250 deaths of nursing home residents registered by the New York State Department of Health (DoH). State officials insisted that the edits were made due to concerns about accuracy. “Although early versions of the report included off-site deaths, Covid’s task force was not satisfied that the data was verified against hospital data and therefore the final report used only death data in facilities, which were disclosed in the report, ”said Gary Holmes, a spokesman for the health department. The governor’s office did not answer questions about whether Cuomo himself was involved in removing the highest total of deaths from the report. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that allegations that Cuomo’s aides handled public reporting on deaths in nursing homes were “worrying” and said the White House “would certainly support any investigation. external “. It happened when Cuomo, who also faces charges of sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace of three women, was beginning to write a book about the success of how he handled the pandemic. At the time, the governor’s televised daily press conferences were widely praised for keeping the public informed. The New York Times said it had spoken to several people and reviewed documents for its report, which alleges that Cuomo’s efforts to omit or manipulate data on deaths in nursing homes took place much earlier than was admitted. Earlier this year, the New York State Attorney General said that thousands of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes were underestimated because only Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, not hospitals, were included. . This sparked calls from Republicans and several Democratic allies for Cuomo’s resignation. Cuomo defended his position, admitting that it had been done because of concerns that the Donald Trump administration might use it to conduct a politically motivated investigation into how the governor handled the pandemic in facilities for the elderly. A billboard in Albany urging Cuomo to step down after accusations that he sexually harassed young women. Photo: Mike Segar / Reuters The new allegations delay this schedule by more than half a year, increasing pressure on the distressed governor, who also faces a vote in the New York legislature to remove him from the pandemic emergency powers that have been granted him. last year. The New York Times appointed three advisers to Cuomo who said they were involved in changing the report: Melissa DeRosa, principal advisor to the governor; Linda Lacewell, head of the state’s financial services department; and Jim Malatras, a former governor’s adviser who returned to work in the pandemic. None of them had experience in public health, the newspaper said. His efforts, he said, have fueled bitter conversations with the health officials who wrote the report, adding to an already tense relationship between the governor and his health department. Cuomo’s office released a statement after the New York Times published its latest allegations blaming the health department for the 9,250 deaths that were dropped from the report. “The data outside the facility was omitted after the DoH was unable to confirm that it had been properly verified. That did not change the conclusion of the report, ”said the statement by Beth Garvey, Cuomo’s special adviser. Cuomo was criticized by Republicans last spring for signing an order preventing nursing homes from refusing patients who had been treated for Covid-19 at the hospital. They claimed that this caused an increase in the virus and in the number of deaths of residents, which would not be included in the data if they were later transferred to the hospital and died there. Cuomo sought approval from the state ethics agency to obtain a prescription for a book “about what we went through” last July, after a health department report said his policies were not to blame for the increase. Separately, one of the women who accused Cuomo of improper conduct appeared on the CBS Evening News on Thursday, claiming that one of the meetings took place during the height of the pandemic last spring. Charlotte Bennett, who worked as an assistant in the governor’s office, said she believed the governor was proposing her for sex. “I thought, he is trying to sleep with me, the governor is trying to sleep with me and I am very uncomfortable and I have to get out of this room as soon as possible,” she said. “He asked me if the age difference is important. I am 25 years old. Without saying it explicitly, he implied that I was old enough for him and that he was alone. ”Cuomo apologized for his actions at a news conference on Wednesday. New York State Attorney General Letitia James will oversee an independent investigation into the allegations.