6 February 2021: Stonewalling Common Practice by Team Cuomo; NY Nursing Home Death Data Starts Coming Out But Incomplete

Cuomo administration's stonewalling goes far beyond nursing home deaths

This article describes how stonewalling, the unethical delay in reporting or supression of information, is a common practice of Governor Cuomo and his administration.

Cuomo releases data on COVID-19 deaths among nursing residents who died outside facilities

Governor Cuomo and his administration are following the "hide the bad news" playbook with a classic weekend news dump, which is aimed at getting bad news out when the fewest people are paying attention. It is no accident the state's information on COVID-19 deaths among infected New York nursing home residents, regardless of where the deaths occurred, is being released on the Saturday before the SuperBowl, rather than on the Monday after, which was the deadline set by Judge O'Connor.

That said, this article reports the total confirmed and presumed coronavirus-related deaths among residents of New York's nursing homes is 13,163, with 4,067 deaths taking place outside the facilities where they resided. Through 5 February 2021, the COVID Tracking Project reports New York has seen 35,920 COVID-19 deaths, where deaths of nursing home residents would make up 36.6% of this total.

The report also tallies death data for the residents of Assisted Care Facilities (ACF) in New York, finding the total confirmed and presumed COVID-19 deaths at these residences would add another 219 deaths to the state's total.

Nursing Home and ACF COVID Related Deaths Statewide, Data through February 04, 2021

This is the first New York State Department of Health's detailed report to indicate the number of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 both inside and outside their nursing home. The data is broken down by county and by nursing home facility.

However, this report does not indicate the dates of these deaths, which is critical for assessing the impact of the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive. The conduct of Governor Cuomo and his administration suggests many of these deaths are likely concentrated in the period in which the directive was in effect.