Cuomo Aides Altered Report On Nursing Home Deaths To Cover Up Death Toll
Top aides to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo rewrote a report on COVID-19 nursing home deaths, with changes resulting in a significant undercount of the death toll attributed to long-term residents, per multiple reports.
The report was written in July and examined factors that led to the spread of the virus in nursing homes. It focused solely on the residents who died inside long-term-care facilities -- and purposely left out those who had died in hospitals after testing positive for the virus or becoming sick in nursing homes.
"As a result, the report said 6,432 nursing-home residents had died -- a significant undercount of the death toll attributed to the state’s most vulnerable population," The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. "The initial version of the report said nearly 10,000 nursing-home residents had died in New York by July last year."
Cuomo has recently come under fire for multiple sexual harassment accusations, including some from a couple of former aides.
The role played by his current top aides showed just how far Cuomo has been willing to go to control data related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and per The New York Times, "brush aside public health expertise and bolster his position as a national leader in the fight against the coronavirus."
New York State Health Department data showed that the death toll was about 50% higher than the public numbers offered by the Cuomo administration, per the Times.