New York’s Attorney General Letitia James announced last week that the death toll in state nursing homes tied to coronavirus infections could be more than 50 percent higher than thought due to Governor Cuomo’s administration underreporting the number of deaths inside these facilities.
The New York Post reported that James’ office said the current tally of 8,711 deaths could be higher than 13,000. The report was based on a survey of 62 nursing homes that found the state undercounted the number of deaths by an average of 56 percent.
“While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves and to spur increased action to protect our most vulnerable residents,” James said. “Nursing homes residents and workers deserve to live and work in safe environments.”
NBC News pointed out last month that over 39 percent of deaths tied to COVID involved nursing home residents and staffers.
Cuomo’s office has been criticized for its decision to require these facilities to accept coronavirus-positive patients to ease the pressure on NYC hospitals during the onset of the outbreak.
“No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” the original advisory said.
James’ report claimed Cuomo’s team left out the deaths of COVID-19 patients who were transferred from nursing facilities and died at hospitals in the state.
Who Cares?
Cuomo faced swift criticism for his response to the underreporting of nursing home deaths. For example, the NY Post blared the headline:
Cuomo Callously Addresses COVID Nursing Home Report:
‘Who Cares!’
The report said Cuomo was referring to New York’s numbers compared to the rest of the country and said the state is still below the national average in nursing home fatalities.
TRENDPOST: As we have been reporting, while Andrew Cuomo is celebrated as a national hero, he brags about the state’s nursing home numbers being below national averages while ignoring the hard fact that NYS ranks second in COVID deaths, with virus deaths at 219 per 100,000.
As the American media champions Cuomo and continually demonizes Sweden for not locking down, the Nordic nation’s death rate is half that of New York State, at 109 virus deaths per 100,000.
It should also be noted that Cuomo, for his “skills” in fighting the COVID War, got a deal from Crown books to write all about it. Cuomo’s book is entitled, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Cuomo refuses to reveal how much Crown paid him for the COVID book deal. Some three years ago, he got $738,000 from HarperCollins for his memoir, which sold only 3,200 copies, according to Buffalo News.
Again, as the legendary comedian George Carlin made clear, “It’s one big club, and you ain’t in it.”