Officials ‘froze’ over nursing home data requests
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide told Democratic lawmakers that the administration took months to release data revealing how many people living at nursing homes died of COVID-19 because officials “froze” over worries the information was “going to be used against us.”
Republicans who term the comment admission of a “coverup” are now calling for investigations into and the resignations of both Cuomo and the aide, secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa. And a growing number of Democrats are joining calls to rescind Cuomo’s emergency executive powers, blasting the administration’s defense of its secrecy.
The disclosure of DeRosa’s comments, made on a Wednesday conference call with Democratic legislative leaders, came as the Democratic governor — a third-term Democrat who says he’ll run again in 2022 and penned a book touting his handling of the pandemic — and his administration were already facing backlash over their handling and reporting of outbreaks in nursing homes.
Cuomo refused for months to release data on how the pandemic has hit nursing home residents, instead pointing to figures more favorable to his administration. Experts say the release of more — and accurate — data can shape policy to help save people’s lives.
“These are people’s parents and grandparents,” Fordham University political science professor Christina Greer said. “They’re people. We should be more specific. Cooking the books on the data isn’t just about nursing homes, it’s about numbers of people infected and possibly dead.”
In recent weeks, a court order and state attorney general report have forced the state to acknowledge the nursing home resident death toll is nearly 15,000, when it previously reported 8,500 — a number that excluded residents who died after being taken to hospitals.
Since last spring, news outlets, lawmakers and the public have asked the Cuomo administration for data about COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents. On Aug. 3, lawmakers asked state health Commissioner Howard Zucker for the number of nursing home residents who died in hospitals.
By mid-August, then-President Donald Trump began retweeting comments criticizing Cuomo for his administration’s response on nursing home deaths. On Aug. 26, the Department of Justice gave Cuomo’s administration 14 days to provide data on nursing home deaths.
“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,” DeRosa told the Democratic leaders in comments were first reported by the New York Post.
Cuomo administration officials have also said they needed months to verify deaths outside nursing homes.
Still, it remains unclear why New York couldn’t provide data that nearly every other state publishes to lawmakers and the Justice Department at the same time, and later correct it if needed.