As we have been reporting since New York State’s Governor Andrew Cuomo launched the COVID War, his 25 March 2020 order forcing COVID-ill patients out of hospitals and into nursing homes is responsible for the deaths of thousands of elder-care patients who subsequently died of the virus.
The New York Department of Health failed to release the precise number of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 inside hospitals, according to a state Supreme Court justice.
Justice Kimberly A. O’Connor said the state broke the law over its “continued failure” to respond to a Freedom of Information Law request filed in August by the Empire Center for Public Policy. The think tank was seeking information on the nursing home deaths in the state.
According to the Albany Times Union, Justice O’Connor said,
“[The Department of Health’s] continued failure to provide petitioner or response, given the straightforward nature of the request, how the data is collected and maintained, and the fact that some of the requested data has already been made publicly available without personally identifying information goes against FOIL’s broad standard for open and transparent government and is a violation of the statute.”
She demanded the state hand over the data within five business days. The think tank called the decision a “great victory” but predicted the Cuomo administration will continue to drag its feet and withhold the data.
The ruling was handed down just before New York Attorney General Letitia James’ damning report showing the state undercounted its nursing home deaths by 50 percent. The state announced 8,711 deaths in nursing homes before James’ report, but then it increased the number to 12,743 as of late last month. It is now estimated that over 15,000 eldercare patients died of the virus.
Killer Cuomo: “Who Cares?”
In response to the ruling, Cuomo said, “Look, whether a person died in a hospital or died in a nursing home, people died.”
Cuomo did not admit his administration cooked the numbers by refusing to release the data, adding,
“If you look at New York State, we have a lower percentage of deaths in nursing homes than other states. A third of all deaths in this nation are from nursing homes. New York State, we’re… about 28 percent, but we’re below the national average in number of deaths in nursing homes. But who cares—33, 28, died in a hospital, died in a nursing home—they died.”
In fact, with the new numbers recently released, “about a third of all deaths” from the virus in New York State were from nursing homes.
