NEW YORK (AP) – Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration insisted on Friday that a search for scientific accuracy, not political concerns, prompted members of its task force COVID-19 to ask the state health department to exclude data from a report on the nursing home last summer for patients killed by the coronavirus.
Wall Street Newspaper and The New York Times, citing documents and people familiar with the government’s internal discussions, reported on Thursday night that advisers, including Governor Melissa DeRosa’s secretary, pressured state health officials to edit the July report to count only residents who those who died after being transferred to a hospital died in long-term care facilities.
At the time, Cuomo was trying to deflect criticism that his government had not done enough to protect nursing home residents from the virus. About a third of deaths in the state’s nursing homes were excluded from the report as a result of the change.
The revelations about removing the highest fatality number come at a time when the Democrat also faces charges of sexually harassing two former aides and a woman he met at a wedding.
Cuomo had apologized on Wednesday for acting “in a way that made people uncomfortable,” but he rejected resignations and said he would cooperate fully with the state attorney general’s investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment. Federal investigators are examining the management of nursing home data by their administration.
The state’s top Democrats have said they want investigations to be completed before making a judgment on Cuomo’s conduct, but following the Thursday night report, some state lawmakers renewed calls for the governor to resign or be deposed .
“And Cuomo hid the numbers. Impeach, ”tweeted Queens Assembly member Ron Kim, who said that Cuomo intimidated him because of the nursing home’s response.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that allegations that Cuomo’s aides manipulated public disclosure of deaths in nursing homes were “worrying” and said the White House “would certainly support any investigation. external “.
The July nursing home report was released to refute criticism of Cuomo over a March 25 directive that prohibited nursing homes from rejecting recovering coronavirus patients who were discharged from hospitals. Some nursing homes complained at the time that the policy could help spread the virus.
The report concluded that the policy played no role in spreading the infection.
The state’s analysis was partially based on what the authorities recognized at the time as an inaccurate statistic. The report said 6,432 people died in the state’s nursing homes.
State officials acknowledged, even then, that the true number of deaths was higher because the report excluded patients who died in hospitals.
But they declined to give any estimate of that higher death toll, saying the numbers have yet to be verified.
In fact, the report’s original drafts included that number, after more than 9,200 deaths, until Cuomo’s aides said it should be withdrawn.
State officials insisted on Thursday that the edits were made because of concerns about accuracy.
“While early versions of the report included off-site deaths, the COVID task force was not satisfied with the fact that the data was verified against hospital data, so the final report used only data for deaths on the premises , which were disclosed in the report ”. said Department of Health spokesman Gary Holmes.
The governor’s office did not answer questions about whether Cuomo himself was involved in removing the highest total of deaths from the report.
Scientists, health professionals and elected officials attacked the report at the time, due to a flawed methodology and selective statistics that circumvented the directive’s real impact.
The government refused for months to release more complete data. A court order and report from the state attorney general in January it forced the state to recognize that the death toll of nursing home residents was greater than the count previously made public.
DeRosa told lawmakers earlier this month, the government did not deliver the data to lawmakers in August due to fears that the information would be used against them by President Donald Trump’s government.
“Basically, we froze, because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to 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 ”Said DeRosa.
Cuomo and his health commissioner recently defended the March guideline, saying it was the best option at the time to help free up desperately needed beds in state hospitals.
“We made the right public health decision at the time. And in the face of the same facts, we would make the same decision again, ”said health commissioner Howard Zucker. February 19th.
The state now recognizes that at least 15,000 long-term care residents have died, compared with a figure of 8,700 released in late January, which did not include residents who died after being transferred to hospitals.