Audit finds New York's health department under Andrew Cuomo 'misled the public,' undercounted at least 4,100 COVID nursing home deaths



Under former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state's health agency undercounted at least 4,100 COVID-related nursing home deaths, according to a state audit. The audit conducted by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli claimed that the Department of Health "misled the public" about nursing home deaths during the pandemic to fit a "narrative."

The 58-page report said the New York Department of Health "was not transparent in its reporting of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes."

"While the Department’s duty is to act solely to promote public health, we determined that, rather than providing accurate and reliable information during a public health emergency, the Department instead conformed its presentation to the Executive’s narrative, often presenting data in a manner that misled the public," the report stated.

"Whether due to the poor-quality data that it was collecting initially or, later, a deliberate decision, for certain periods during the pandemic, the Department understated the number of deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50%," the report declared.

Nearly 14,000 people died in nursing homes due to COVID-19 between March 2020 and May 2021, according to the audit.

The report also stated, "Persistent underinvestment in public health over the last decade may have limited the Department’s ability to prepare and respond in the most effective way."

DiNapoli said in a statement, "The pandemic was devastating and deadly for New Yorkers living in nursing homes. Families have a right to know if their loved one’s COVID-19 death was counted, but many still don’t have answers from the state Department of Health."

"Our audit findings are extremely troubling," DiNapoli said. "The public was misled by those at the highest level of state government through distortion and suppression of the facts when New Yorkers deserved the truth."

The report found that the New York Department of Health failed to meet federal directives to inspect for infection control problems, reporting on only 20% of facilities between March and May 2020 – compared to over 90% for other states.

Cuomo's spokesperson – Rich Azzopardi – tried to discredit the audit.

"As the number of out of facility deaths were reported last January this is not news, however what is peculiar is the Comptroller's release of this audit now — but no one has ever accused him of being above politics," Azzopardi said.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James said the audit supported her own January 2021 investigation into allegations of the Cuomo administration undercounting COVID nursing home deaths.

"This audit affirms many of the findings that we uncovered last year about the state’s response to COVID, most notably that DOH and the former governor undercounted the number of deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%," James said in a statement. "I am grateful to Comptroller DiNapoli for bringing much needed transparency to this critical issue. My office will continue to monitor nursing home conditions and ensure the safety of our most vulnerable residents. If anyone has concerns about nursing home conditions, I urge them to contact my office."

In August 2020, Cuomo told the public to "look at the basic facts on where New York is versus other states." The disgraced Democratic ex-governor bragged at the time, "You look at where New York is as a percentage of nursing home deaths. It's all the way at the bottom of the list of states."

In February 2021, Cuomo proclaimed that he "fully reported" deaths and blamed nursing home staff for spreading COVID-19.

In February 2021, Cuomo's top aide privately told Democratic lawmakers that his administration took months to release data on COVID nursing home death because they "froze" in fear that the data was “going to be used against us."

"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 give to you guys and what we start saying was going to be used against us, and we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation," Melissa DeRosa told state Democratic leaders, according to the New York Post.

In November 2020, Cuomo was selected to receive an International Emmy Founder's Award "in recognition of his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his masterful use of television to inform and calm people around the world."

In August 2021, the award was rescinded "in light of the New York Attorney General's report, and Andrew Cuomo's subsequent resignation as Governor."

In December 2021, the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics ordered Cuomo to pay New York the $5.1 million in profits from his book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Cuomo resigned due to sexual harassment allegations against him by 11 women.

Report: Federal prosecutors subpoena Cuomo aides for material related to his COVID-19 book



Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top aides for material related to his recent memoir as part of an investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home deaths, the Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the report, prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn want contracts and "materials used to pitch the book to publishers." Cuomo's book, released in October last year, recounted the governor's spin on how his administration responded to the coronavirus pandemic. The materials were requested by prosecutors last month.

The ongoing probe is to determine whether the governor acted to cover up nursing home deaths in his state in an attempt to shield his pandemic response from criticism, as many New York Republicans and Democrats allege. Former federal prosecutor Michael Weinstein told the Journal that the requested materials could help investigators determine what was really going on in Cuomo's administration.

"If reflections memorialized in records and notes are inconsistent with what he was saying publicly or with disclosures to health or government officials, that is potentially problematic," Weinstein said.

Cuomo has faced intense scrutiny and criticism for his State Department of Health's March 25, 2020, order to nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients transported from hospitals. Elderly people are more susceptible to contracting and dying from the SARS-CoV-2 and transferring COVID-positive patients into nursing homes put thousands of New York seniors at risk of illness and death.

New York state has reported more than 5,000 confirmed and presumed COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

The governor has defended his order against attacks, accusing his critics of politicizing his actions.

"Anyone who wants to ask, why did the state do that with Covid patients in nursing homes? It's because the state followed President Trump's CDC guidance, so they should ask President Trump. I think that will stop the conversation," Cuomo said last month after state Republicans called for an independent investigation into his order.

The Journal continues:

The criminal probe is an offshoot of inquiries in 2020 by the Justice Department's civil rights and civil divisions that sought records on Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes in NewYork and other states led by Democratic governors, The Wall Street Journal has reported. An October letter viewed by the Journal said investigators were looking at possible violations of federal laws including the False Claims Act, which makes it illegal to knowingly submit a false record to the government.

The federal probe is also examining the drafting of a state law that granted civil and criminal immunity to nursing-home operators and whether the state improperly gave priority access to coronavirus testing to people close to Mr. Cuomo.

Mr. Cuomo's senior adviser Rich Azzopardi, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and PenguinRandom House, which published the book under its Crown imprint, all declined to comment.

The company reached a deal to pay Mr. Cuomo $5.1 million for the book, according to financial-disclosure and tax documents released by his office last month. Two separate state probes are investigating whether it was improper that administration officials helped edit a book draft last summer. Mr. Azzopardi has said officials volunteered their time to work on the project.

In February, Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa told Democratic state lawmakers that the administration delayed the release of nursing home data on the coronavirus infections to avoid political fallout and public criticism from former President Donald Trump. The Eastern District probe into Cuomo's administration began shortly after this revelation.

New York lawmaker: Gov. Cuomo asked 'me to lie and cover everything up' but I wouldn't do it



New York Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim on Monday repeated his calls for Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to be removed from office, accusing the governor of asking him to "lie and cover everything up" regarding the COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

During an interview on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," Kim said he felt obligated to challenge the governor after Cuomo allegedly threatened to "destroy" him for speaking out about how the Cuomo administration covered up nursing home deaths.

"It wasn't the bullying," Kim told Fox News. "The moment he crossed that line and ordered me to issue a statement that covered up what his top aide's admission of obstructing justice, that's what really motivated and pushed me to come out in public and push back."

In February, the New York Post reported that top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa apologized to Democratic lawmakers for hiding data on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes to shield Gov. Cuomo from political fallout for his executive order placing positive COVID-19 patients in those homes. Assemblyman Kim, whose uncle died in a nursing home in April after suffering the coronavirus symptoms, became one of Cuomo's fiercest critics.

"I've fought along with [Fox News'] Janice Dean and others for 10 months to give these families the voice that they lacked and then in one second the governor wanted me to lie and cover everything up to protect him. And I wasn't going to have that," Kim said.

"In a private meeting [DeRosa] admitted that there was a cover-up and she implicated all of us, not just the members but the institutions, the Senate and the Assembly, and the moment she did that it no longer became a private conversation," he added. "The public had right to know and we have a duty to report to the public that this is what's going on with the executive and we need to check the governor and we need to do our jobs to get to the truth."

Cuomo has denied the allegation that he threatened Kim over the phone and accused the lawmaker of being a liar.

Kim pointed out that Cuomo is, in fact, the one who has been caught in a lie. The New York Times recently reported leaked audio audio of a 2018 phone conversation Cuomo had with Bill Lipton, the leader of the Working Families Party in New York. On the phone call, Cuomo castigated Lipton for the party's messaging that Cuomo is "better than a Republican," saying, "if you ever say, 'Well he's better than a Republican' again then I'm going to say, 'You're better than a child rapist' — how about that."

Text of the conversation had been previously reported in February. At the time, Cuomo's office said the report was not true.

"First they denied it, they lied" and claimed he never said that, Kim said. "And then when they get caught red-handed they punt and they deflect and come up with something else. The point is they lie, they deflect, and they cover up. And the public has had enough.

"We've had enough of his abusive behaviors, abuse of power, and he needs to be removed so we can get back to protecting the people of New York."