A timeline of the decision to allow COVID-19-positive patients into nursing homes, and Gov. Cuomo’s coverup since.
MARCH 25, 2020 — The state Department of Health tells nursing homes that “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.” Gov. Cuomo claims the state is following federal guidelines to prevent hospital overcrowding, but that isn’t true. A memo from the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services said a nursing home should accept the residents only if it could follow CDC guidance on transmission precautions.
APRIL 9 — Cobble Hill Health Center CEO Donny Tuchman sends a desperate e-mail to state officials asking if there was “a way for us to send our suspected COVID patients” to the Javits Convention Center or the US naval hospital ship Comfort. “We don’t have the ability to cohort right now based on staffing and we really want to protect our other patients,” he writes. His request is denied.
APRIL 20 — Asked by Post reporter Bernadette Hogan about the nursing-home policy, Cuomo says, “That’s a good question, I don’t know.” Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker confirms the policy, saying, “If you are positive, you should be admitted back to a nursing home.”
APRIL 22 — After Post columnist Michael Goodwin criticizes the state for not doing more to help nursing homes, Cuomo says, “It’s not our job.” By the official account at the time, nursing homes accounted for onequarter of the state’s COVID-19 deaths.
MAY5— The death toll in nursing homes jumps by 1,700 in a single day, to 4,813, as the DOH admits it hadn’t counted people who died with coronavirus symptoms but had not been officially tested for COVID-19.
MAY10— Cuomo finally changes course, rescinding the March 25 directive. At this point, the official tally stands at 5,244 deaths in nursing homes.
EARLY JULY — The coverup begins. Cuomo advisers successfully pressure health officials to say 6,432 nursing-home residents had died of COVID-19, leaving out those who contracted the disease in a facility but died in a hospital. In truth, the number was more than 10,000.
JULY 24 — Cuomo dismisses criticism of how he handled COVID19 in nursing homes. “I believe it is a political issue,” he says. “I think it’s the New York Post, I think it’s Michael Goodwin, I think it’s Bob McManus, I think it’s Fox TV. I think it is all politically motivated. If anybody looked at the facts, they would know that it was wholly absurd on its face.”
AUGUST — The Legislature holds hearings on the nursing-home deaths, but the state withholds data. Secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa would admit months later that the administration was worried the true numbers would “be used against us” by President Trump. “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, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” she tells Democratic lawmakers.
JAN. 27, 2021 — In a damning report, Attorney General Letitia James finds that the state is undercounting deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent. Later that day, the DOH admits the actual total is 12,743 deaths. Factoring in assisted-living centers, the total today stands at 15,430.
TODAY — The FBI is investigating Cuomo and whether he lied to federal investigators. The nursing-home coverup is also part of an impeachment inquiry by the Assembly.