ALBANY, NY – The New York State Attorney General accused the Cuomo administration of underestimating coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes by up to 50 percent, according to a report released on Thursday.
The death count in state nursing homes has been a source of controversy for Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and state Department of Health officials, who were sensitive to any suggestion that they played any role in the number of deaths in nursing homes. , which the state placed at more than 8,500.
They were also accused of obscuring a more accurate estimate of deaths in nursing homes, because the state only counted deaths in real facilities, rather than including the deaths of residents who were transferred to a hospital and died there.
In the 76-page report released by Attorney General Letitia James, a survey of nursing homes found consistent discrepancies between the deaths reported to the attorney general’s investigators and those officially reported by the Department of Health.
In one case, an unidentified facility reported 11 confirmed and presumed deaths to the Department of Health as occurring at the site by the beginning of August. The attorney general’s survey at that facility, however, found 40 deaths, including 27 at home and 13 in hospitals.
“Preliminary data obtained by the OAG suggests that many residents of nursing homes died from Covid-19 in hospitals after being transferred from their nursing homes, which is not reflected in the total mortality data published in nursing homes,” says a summary of the report’s findings.
The findings of Mrs. James, a Democrat, could put her in direct conflict with Cuomo, the state’s three-term Democratic president, who praised his and his government’s response to the coronavirus crisis, despite more than 42,000 deaths in the state .
Ms. James’ report also found a number of homes that “did not comply with critical infection control policies,” including the non-isolation of residents who tested positive for the virus or screening employees.
The death toll in the state’s nursing homes has been a source of agony for residents and their families, and a political responsibility for Cuomo, who has rejected accusations that his government has not done enough to protect a highly vulnerable population. In particular, Cuomo was criticized by a March 25 memorandum from the Department of Health, which ordered nursing homes to accept patients with a positive test.
In late July, the Department of Health released a report that refuted the claim that this policy may have led to outbreaks in nursing homes, finding instead that most of these patients “were no longer contagious when admitted and, therefore, they were not a source of infection. ” The report also concluded that the virus was spread by employees who did not know they were contagious.