It’s beginning to feel like we’re having some deja vu this week, as news of Andrew Cuomo’s situation is still getting worse just days after the last time that the New York Governor found on the wrong end of lady luck.
Cuomo has been in increasingly hot water in the Empire State after a series of scandals compounded one another with impunity. The latest of these troubles have come in the form of at least ten women coming forward to accuse Cuomo of inappropriate sexual behavior toward them.
But, just before those dominos began to fall, Cuomo was fending off calls for his resignation over his decision to send COVID-19 patients to nursing homes in the early days of the pandemic.
Worse still; there were rumors of a possible coverup. Now it appears as though there is evidence that the gossip was spot-on.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration reportedly engaged in a concerted monthslong effort to deliberately play down the number of COVID-19-related deaths among nursing home patients in the state.
Senior aides for the governor purposely sought to prevent New York state health officials, including Commissioner Howard Zucker, from releasing the true death toll, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing interviews and newly-unearthed documents.
As previously reported by Fox News, Cuomo’s administration was logging the location of nursing home residents’ COVID-19 deaths since at least April 2020, despite claims, those numbers could not be verified for a report issued months later. According to a document obtained by Fox News, facilities were required to report the number of residents who died from COVID-19 daily.
Just how bad was it?
Officials were aware of the true death toll since last spring, the New York Times said. An unpublished report said nursing home deaths accounted for 35% of all deaths at that time, though the version that was eventually released in July pared that figure down to 21%.
The Times reported that Cuomo’s top aides watched closely over the report, which began to be compiled in April 2020. An email obtained by the publication noted that Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s secretary, said they were getting “anxious” about the report and sought to downplay the idea that Cuomo’s nursing home directive was potentially a problem.
Not only was a scientific paper including the data was not published, the Times reported, but also two letters to state legislators from health officials were never sent.
However many times we have already been through this there is little hope for Andrew Cuomo to make it through unscathed.
