Andrew Cuomo, Melissa DeRosa
(NEW YORK (AP)-77WABC)-According to The Associated Press The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are reporting that the true number of people who had died in nursing homes in New York was altered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aides in a state Health Department report in July. The newspapers cited documents and anonymous sources in reporting that the aides pushed state health officials to alter the public report so that only residents who died inside long-term care facilities, and not those who became ill there and later died at a hospital, were counted.
The report was released as the Democratic governor’s administration faced criticism over its March 25 directive that sent thousands of recovering coronavirus patients into nursing homes.
The office of Governor Cuomo responded to the reports late Thursday, saying “The out of facility data was omitted after DOH could not confirm it had been adequately verified.”
The FBI and the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn have begun a preliminary investigation into the way New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration handled data about Covid-19 nursing home deaths.
