The New York Post reports the Cuomo administration withheld nursing home death numbers for fear they would be used by federal prosecutors investigating deaths in aged care facilities. According to an AP article, the state also under-reported the number of recovering COVID-19 patients admitted into nursing homes under a since-reversed Cuomo directive that barred nursing homes from refusing infected applicants.
Cuomo advisor Rich Azzopardi disputed both articles, adding that the Trump administration had engaged in a “politically motivated effort” to blame democratic states for COVID-19 deaths.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing home death toll from COVID-19 — telling them “we froze” out of fear that the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors, The Post has learned.
