New York Governor’s Advisers Andrew Cuomo
Advisers to Andrew CuomoCuomo amended COVID-19 nursing home report: WSJ Cuomo accuser Charlotte Bennett says the governor asked about previous sexual assault. (D) pressured state health officials to amend a public July report on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, said people with knowledge of the report’s production Wall Street newspaper.
The report focused only on residents who died in long-term care facilities and did not include those who died in hospitals after falling ill in nursing homes. The report said 6,432 nursing home residents died, which is a lower count of the death toll, the sources told the newspaper.
The report in question came as a result of a study by the New York State Department of Health (DOH) on the impact of a March directive that stated that nursing homes could not refuse to readmit residents or admit new hospital residents. simply due to a COVID-19 diagnosis.
According to the newspaper, the report transferred the blame for the spread of the virus to the team that brought the virus to work.
The initial version of the report included data on deaths of nursing home residents, as well as deaths in hospitals, the Journal reported. However, members of Cuomo’s task force COVID-19, which included the secretary of Governor Melissa DeRosa, requested that the report minimize the role of the March directive, which was rejected.
According to the Journal, the published report said the guideline “was not a significant factor in deaths in nursing homes”.
Garvey told the Journal that task force members did not request a change to the report, but were “very careful not to overdo the statistical analysis presented in the report. Overall, ensuring public confidence in the conclusion was the ultimate goal of DOH and Covid’s task force when publishing the report. “
The Journal’s report comes at a time when Cuomo faces growing resignations amid treatment of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, as well as allegations of inappropriate behavior by team members.
State legislators reached an agreement on Tuesday to remove Cuomo from his pandemic-related emergency powers amid controversy.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) released a report in January that found that Cuomo’s administration underestimated deaths in nursing homes by up to 50% and failed in the March guideline.
According to the Journal, the July report is of interest in a federal investigation into the management of COVID-19 by the Cuomo government in nursing homes.