31 August 2020: Cuomo Claims DOJ's Nursing Home Probe Is Politically Motivated

Cuomo Calls Nursing Home Probe Politically Motivated

This article covers Governor Cuomo's continuing campaign to avoid independent scrutiny of how his administration's policies affected the spread of COVID-19 in New York's nursing homes and subsequent coronavirus-related deaths in those facilities by claiming calls for third party investigation are partisan politics.

30 August 2020: Opinion - Cuomo Can't Hide from Nursing Home Calamity

Cuomo can’t hide from his nursing home coronavirus calamity (opinion)

This opinion piece by Staten Island columnist Tom Wrobleski succinctly describes New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's political strategy to avoid responsibility related to his administration's coronavirus nursing home policies during the last several months:

Ask Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the tragic number of deaths we saw among New York nursing home patients during the coronavirus pandemic, and he’ll shout that you’re playing politics.

The governor obviously believes that if he pushes back loud and often enough on the issue, critics will either start to believe him or will be cowed into silence.

But Cuomo can’t bully his way out of this one. There are too many families who have lost loved ones and who want answers.

There are too many New York lawmakers, Democrats included, who know that launching a real investigation is the right thing to do.

Wrobleski also tears apart elements of the various defenses Cuomo has offered during the past several months using examples of the Governor's contradictions that may not be well known outside New York.

26 August 2020: DOJ Seeks Nursing Home Death Data from COVID Patient Dumping States

Department of Justice Requesting Data From Governors of States that Issued COVID-19 Orders that May Have Resulted in Deaths of Elderly Nursing Home Residents

This press release from the U.S. Department of Justice indicates that Governor Cuomo (New York), along with Governor Phil Murphy (New Jersey), Tom Wolf (Pennsylvania), and Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan) and their administrations will be investigated for their coronavirus nursing home admission policies. Here is an extended excerpt:

Today the Justice Department requested COVID-19 data from the governors of states that issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan required nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients to their vulnerable populations, often without adequate testing.

For example, on March 25, 2020, New York ordered: “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to [a nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. [Nursing homes] are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission."

“Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband. “We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk."

According to the Centers for Disease Control, New York has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States, with 32,592 victims, many of them elderly. New York’s death rate by population is the second highest in the country with 1,680 deaths per million people. New Jersey’s death rate by population is 1,733 deaths per million people – the highest in the nation. In contrast, Texas’s death rate by population is 380 deaths per million people; and Texas has just over 11,000 deaths, though its population is 50 percent larger than New York and has many more recorded cases of COVID-19 – 577,537 cases in Texas versus 430,885 cases in New York. Florida’s COVID-19 death rate is 480 deaths per million; with total deaths of 10,325 and a population slightly larger than New York.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is evaluating whether to initiate investigations under the federal “Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act" (CRIPA), which protects the civil rights of persons in state-run nursing homes, among others. The Civil Rights Division seeks to determine if the state orders requiring admission of COVID-19 patients to nursing homes is responsible for the deaths of nursing home residents.

On March 3, 2020, the Attorney General announced the Justice Department’s National Nursing Home Initiative. This is a comprehensive effort by the department, led by the Elder Justice Initiative and in strong partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that uses every available tool to pursue nursing homes that provide substandard care to their residents.

Here is the press release announcing the DOJ's National Nursing Home Initiative, which in being issued on 3 March 2020, clearly predates any of the coronavirus-motivated policies implemented in these states. The DOJ's announcement follows our 19 August 2020 analysis of the correlation of total deaths in each of these states with the timing of when their coronavirus nursing home forced admission policies were in effect. These are the only four states that adopted and sustained such admission policies for an extended period, which is why the DOJ is specifically demanding information from them.

For New York, we view this announcement as a major step toward a badly needed independent investigation of this situation, since Governor Cuomo and his administration have been stonewalling lawmakers and media demands for information about nursing home residents who died during the state's coronavirus epidemic.

21 August 2020: Editorial - Cuomo "Admits Guilt" by Hiding Public Data on NY COVID Nursing Home Deaths

If Cuomo won’t allow outside review of NY nursing home COVID-19 horror, he admits guilt

The New York Post's lays down the stakes for what Governor Cuomo's potential veto of a bipartisan bill in the state legislature to establish an independent investigation into the governor's 25 March 2020 coronavirus directive that exposed thousands of nursing home residents to fatal infections.

20 August 2020: Editorial - NY Lawmakers Need Truth Behind COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Lawmakers Need An Accurate Accounting Of What Happened In Nursing Homes

This editorial notes the growing bipartisan support for an independent investigation of the Cuomo administration's policies and their role in contributing to coronavirus nursing home deaths.

19 August 2020: Cuomo Rejects AP's Independent Analysis of NY COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Cuomo brushes back AP report of care home death undercount

Governor Cuomo is fighting back against the Associated Press' 11 August 2020 analysis that adds thousands more to the state's official total number of nursing home deaths attributed to COVID-19. The governor hasn't explained why the state is stonewalling media and state legislature requests for data on deceased nursing home residents during the state's coronavirus epidemic.

18 August 2020: Governor Cuomo's Pandemic Leadership Book Gets Publication Date

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo book on Covid-19 response out in October

Governor Andrew Cuomo will receive another boost from the media to try to sell his story of how he handled the coronavirus epidemic in New York state. Unfortunately for him, other, more honest parts of the media recognize he is actively engaged in peddling fiction, as can be seen in the following excerpt that concludes this article:

Cuomo has received some of his strongest criticism for the thousands of virus-related deaths at New York nursing homes. A recent AP investigation found that the state's death toll of nursing home patients, already among the highest in the nation, could be significantly more than reported. Unlike every other state with major outbreaks, only New York explicitly says that it counts just residents who died on nursing home property and not those who were transported to hospitals and died there.

So far, Cuomo's administration has declined to release the number. The governor has called criticism of nursing home deaths politically motivated.

The claims of a man now trying to sell a book.

17 August 2020: President Trump Criticizes Cuomo's Handling of COVID in New York Nursing Homes for First Time

Now AP estimates that the real Cuomo number of people killed because of his total incompetence is 11,000, not the 6000 that was originally thought!

This entry covering President Donald Trump's first documented criticism of Governor Andrew Cuomo's handling of COVID in New York nursing homes was inserted into the timeline on 7 May 2021. The text of President Trump's tweet above is taken from the Trump Twitter Archive, where the original tweet was posted at 11:26:41 PM Eastern Standard Time on 17 August 2020. This is the earliest criticism by President Trump of Governor Cuomo's handling of COVID in New York's nursing homes. The AP report that Trump cites was published nearly a week earlier, on 11 August 2020.

HT: Bill Hammond, who presents much more information in a 5 May 2021 Twitter thread.

14 August 2020: Opinion - Don't Let Cuomo Hide

Don't let Cuomo hide from his coronavirus nursing-home disaster

This opinion piece by Business Insider's Daniel L. Fisher directly contradicts Governor Cuomo's claim that criticism of his coronavirus nursing home policy is partisan and notes other contradictions in the governor's hostility toward an independent investigation of his administration's actions. Here's a key observation:

If he's certain his administration made no mistakes in ordering nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients, Cuomo should stop hiding and let the truth speak for itself in the form of an independent investigation.

Governor Cuomo's arguments against independent investigations of his administration's policies and actions during the coronavirus pandemic are not those of someone who truly believes their actions will stand up to serious scrutiny.

12 August 2020: Governor Cuomo Rejects Calls for Independent Investigation of Nursing Home Deaths

Cuomo: Independent probe of nursing home deaths unneeded

Governor Cuomo continues trying to choke off calls for an independent investigation of his policies' role in contributing to New York's worst-in-the-U.S. coronavirus-related death count.

12 August 2020: Opinion - Cuomo Administration Called Out for Stonewalling

Churchill: The number Andrew Cuomo doesn't want you to know

This op-ed describes how differently New York is counting the number of coronavirus-related deaths from other states to keep its official count low.

12 August 2020: NY Health Commissioner Stonewalls Legislators, Denies PPE Shortages at Nursing Homes

New York State health leader gives no answer on nursing home deaths

Howard Zucker, New York's top public health official, continued stonewalling on reporting the true number of nursing home deaths in New York during testimony before a joint coronavirus review committee of New York's legislature.

NY Health Commissioner Dismisses Media Reports of PPE Shortages

Cuomo administration member Zucker also sought to deny the state failed to ensure nursing homes had adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect staff and residents against coronavirus infections, contradicting multiple media reports (just scroll up) during the state's coronavirus epidemic.

Relatives Of Nursing Home Residents Speak Out At Hearing

Families of nursing home residents who died during the state's coronavirus epidemic point to the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive as a primary reason for their elderly, sick relatives becoming infected by the deadly virus.

11 August 2020: COVID Patient Dumping Into Nursing Homes Confirmed

Local Officials Say a Nursing Home Dumped Residents to Die at Hospitals

This report describes how at least one New York City nursing home dumped its coronavirus-infected patients at hospitals where they subsequently died during the period when Governor Cuomo's disastrous 25 March 2020 directive was in effect. New York's official statistics do not include these deaths in its count of coronavirus-related deaths at the state's nursing homes.

11 August 2020: Cuomo Administration Stonewalling on COVID Deaths of Nursing Home Residents

New York’s true nursing home death toll cloaked in secrecy

This report describes the stonewalling the Cuomo administration is using to prevent the full extent of coronavirus-related nursing home deaths in New York during the period its deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect from becoming known to the public. The report indicates the state's official total, which Governor Cuomo has frequently used to try to favorably compare New York's performance to other states, really represents a significant undercount of the actual total of cases.

Separately, the Associated Press' analysts project New York's real nursing home COVID death total could be in the ballpark of 11,000, quite a lot higher than the 6,400 that Governor Cuomo's administration has officially reported. AP's higher estimate assumes the average percentage of coronavirus-related nursing home fatalities recorded in all other states is the 44% reported in an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

11 August 2020: Why Janice Dean's Testimony Was Blocked

The Outrageous Reason NY Dems Stopped Janice Dean from Testifying at Monday's Nursing Home Hearing

This article follows up the story of how members of Governor Cuomo's political party blocked Fox News' meteorologist Janice Dean from testifying to the state assembly's joint committee meeting investigating the state's nursing home policies.

11 August 2020: Governor Cuomo Refuses Calls for Independent Investigation of Nursing Home Policies

Cuomo rejects calls for independent nursing home investigation, report says

This report describes Governor Cuomo continuing efforts to obstruct an independent investigation from being conducted into his administration's coronavirus epidemic nursing home policies.

10 August 2020: Pro-Cuomo Officials in State Legislature Block Victim's Testimony

Janice Dean: NY Democrats Stopped Me from Testifying at Nursing Home Hearing

Meteorologist Janice Dean's in-laws were exposed to the coronavirus in New York's nursing homes during the period the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive was in effect and subsequently died from the viral infection. She was scheduled to testify at state legislature hearings scheduled today but has been blocked from testifying by members of Governor Cuomo's political party.

10 August 2020: Editorial - Unanswered Questions After First Public Hearings

Why did they die? Questions that need to be answered as the state continues probing coronavirus nursing home fatalities

This editorial focuses on questions the Cuomo administration is seeking to dodge answering at hearings underway in the state legislature.

8 August 2020: Editorial - Cuomo Administration Lacks Transparency

Rising heat on nursing homes

This editorial slams the Cuomo administration's lack of transparency in fully quantifying the number of deaths that resulted from coronavirus infections at New York's nursing homes during the period where administration's 25 March 2020 directive forcing nursing homes to admit infected patients was in effect.

4 August 2020: Major NYC Health Official Resigns

N.Y.C. Health Commissioner Resigns After Clashes With Mayor Over Virus

This report covers the sudden resignation of one of the three "power public health officials of New York". The chips may be beginning to fall, though this particular chip may be specific to New York City.

4 August 2020: Vice President Criticizes Governor Cuomo's "Poor Decisions"

Pence rips Andrew Cuomo's 'poor decisions' on pandemic that led to nursing home deaths

This report describes U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's critical comments on Governor Cuomo's performance during the coronavirus pandemic, in which he notes that "1 in 5 of all the American lives that have been lost in the coronavirus pandemic were lost in the state of New York, and some of that was because of poor decisions by the state and by Gov. Cuomo".

3 August 2020: Nursing Home Legal Liability COVID Protections Partially Rolled Back

NY Rolls Back Legal Immunity for Hospitals, Nursing Homes

Governor Cuomo signed legislation restricting liability for non-COVID care at hospitals and nursing homes, undoing some of the immunity protection the governor sought and obtained in an April 2020 budget bill.

3 August 2020: Hearings Into Cuomo Nursing Home Policies Begin in NY Legislature

Cuomo official grilled on coronavirus nursing home deaths, secrecy

This report describes the first day of scheduled hearings on how Governor Cuomo and his administration's policies affected the spread coronavirus infections at nursing homes throughout the state of New York. The testimony of state health commissioner Howard Zucker confirms the role that coronavirus models had in shaping the administration's policies and directives affecting the state's nursing homes, but continued evading quantifying the full scope of deaths that resulted from coronavirus infections under those policies:

State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker defended the administration’s response Monday and said officials were worried about projections from global and federal public health experts that New York could have faced a surge of over 100,000 COVID-19 patients at once. He defended his agency’s recent report, which has been panned by academics, claiming that the original March 25 directive was not a “significant factor” in virus outbreaks.

But as the number of infections have plunged and plateaued in recent weeks in New York, lawmakers grew frustrated Monday as Zucker declined to provide key data points sought by Democrats and Republicans, including a rough estimate of how many nursing home residents have died in hospitals of COVID-19.

“I will not provide information that I have not ensured is absolutely accurate,” Zucker said. “This is too big an issue and it’s too serious an issue.”...

But lawmakers said the lack of transparency makes it hard to protect nursing homes during the crisis. They questioned why states like California are providing the kind of data sought by lawmakers and the public.

“It seems that what y’all are doing is just trying to minimize,” said Sen. Gustavo Rivera, Democrat and chair of the Committee on Health.

The lack of transparency from the Cuomo administration official, including identifying which state officials authored the state's controversial 25 March 2020 directive forcing nursing homes to admit infected coronavirus patients, will likely remain an issue.