Here’s How Cuomo Used Undercounted Nursing Home Deaths To Mislead The Public

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his top lieutenants cited a report altered by his top aides to make it seem like they were handling the COVID-19 outbreak in nursing homes better than other states. A New York State Department of Health report published in early July disclosed 6,432 COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes, despite the department knowing at the time that nearly 10,000 nursing home residents had died of the virus. Cuomo used the figures in the report to claim his state performing better than 45 other states.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his top lieutenants cited a report altered by his top aides to paint a false narrative of his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in nursing homes in comparison to other states.

The New York State Department of Health knew that nearly 10,000 nursing home residents had died of COVID-19 by early July, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Despite this, top Cuomo aides convinced the health department to report just 6,432 nursing home deaths in a July 6 report that claimed the Cuomo administration’s infamous March 25 order did not lead to more fatalities.

The July 6 report used the reduced figure, which omitted nursing home residents who died of the virus at a hospital, to conclude that only 21% of New York COVID-19 deaths were in nursing homes. The figure was repeatedly cited by Cuomo all while he was claiming to be a servant only to the facts.

No other state that reports nursing homes COVID-19 deaths omits residents who died in hospitals from their reporting. But Cuomo and other New York officials still used the 21% figure to claim New York was handling the situation better than 45 other states.

“You look at the nursing home deaths in this state,” Cuomo told reporters in October. “Do you know what number we are by percentage before you made that statement? We’re No. 46 out of 50 states, and we had the worst problem, and we’re 46th in terms of percentage of deaths in nursing homes.”

New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker also cited the 21% figure during a July 6 press conference announcing the findings of the report.

“We have had 21, 22 percent of our deaths are in the nursing homes, which is essentially the lowest in the nation,” Zucker said.

“New York state ranked 46 in the nation, meaning that 45 states had a greater percentage of fatalities,” Zucker said of the state’s nursing home deaths.

Zucker also accused some critics of Cuomo’s March 25 order, which required nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive patients, of either lacking the ability to think critically or of operating with “malice.”

“Sometimes what happens is that a narrative gets perpetuated when it’s not based on facts,” he said. “And that narrative, that story, gets swept away as the truth simply by virtue of repetition whether because of lack of critical thinking or malice. Either way, it does not do us as a society any good.”

Sitting beside Zucker at the press conference was Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowli... (Read more)

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