Cuomo staff: Data deleted for accuracy

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration insisted Friday that a quest for scientific accuracy, not political concerns, prompted members of his COVID-19 task force to ask the state health department to delete data last summer from a report on nursing home patients killed by the coronavirus.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, citing documents and people with knowledge of the administration’s internal discussions, reported late Thursday that aides including secretary to the governor Melissa Derosa pushed state health officials to edit the July report so it counted only residents who died inside long-term care facilities and not those who died later after being transferred to a hospital.

At the time, Cuomo was trying to deflect criticism that his administration hadn’t done enough to protect nursing home residents. About a third of the state’s nursing home fatalities were excluded from the report.

The revelations about the removal of the higher fatality number come as the Democrat also faces accusations he sexually harassed two former aides and a woman that he met at a wedding.

Top Democrats in the state have said they want those investigations to conclude before they make a judgment about Cuomo’s conduct, but in the wake of Thursday night’s report, a few state lawmakers renewed calls for the governor to resign or be ousted.

“And Cuomo hid the numbers. Impeach,” tweeted Queens Assembly member Ron Kim, who said Cuomo bullied him for criticizing how the governor withheld nursing home data.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the allegations that Cuomo aides deleted data from the report was “troubling” and the White House “certainly would support any outside investigation.”