N.Y.: Tallies of virus nursing home deaths short by thousands

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration confirmed Thursday that thousands more nursing home residents died of COVID-19 than the state’s official tallies had previously acknowledged, dealing a potential blow to his image as a pandemic hero.

The surprise development, after months of the state refusing to divulge its true numbers, showed that at least 12,743 long-term care residents died of the virus as of Jan. 19, far greater than the official tally of 8,505 on that day, cementing New York’s toll as one of the highest in the nation.

Those numbers are consistent with a report released just hours earlier by Attorney General Letitia James charging that the nursing home death count could be off by about 50%, largely because New York is one of the only states to count just those who died on facility grounds, not those who later died in the hospital.

“While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves,” Ms. James said in a statement.

The 76-page report from a fellow Democratic official undercut Mr. Cuomo’s frequent argument that the criticism of his handling of the virus in nursing homes was part of a political “blame game,” and it was a vindication for thousands of families who believed their loved ones were being omitted from counts to advance the governor’s image as a pandemic hero.

“It’s important to me that my mom was counted,” said Vivian Zayas, whose 78-year-old mother died in April after contracting COVID-19 at a nursing home in West Islip, N.Y. “Families like mine knew these numbers were not correct.”

Mr. Cuomo’s office referred all questions to the state Health Department. Several hours after the report, State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker released a lengthy statement attempting to refute Ms. James’ report but essentially confirmed its central finding.

Mr. Zucker’s figure of 12,743 nursing home resident deaths included for the first time 3,829 confirmed COVID-19 fatalities of those residents who had been transported to hospitals.

Those figures could be even higher, but the Health Department said its audit was ongoing, didn’t break out deaths presumed but not confirmed to be caused by the virus, and omitted those in assisted living or other types of long-term care facilities.

Mr. Zucker, however, still took issue with Ms. James’ characterization of his department’s official tally as an “undercount.” He said “DOH was always clear that the data on its website pertains to in-facility fatalities.”

Ms. James has for months been examining discrepancies between the number of deaths being reported by the state’s Department of Health, and the number of deaths reported by the homes themselves.

Her investigators looked at a sample of 62 of the state’s roughly 600 nursing homes. They reported 1,914 deaths of residents from COVID-19, while the state Department of Health logged only 1,229 deaths at those same facilities.