25 August 2021: Hochul Breaks with Cuomo COVID Death Reporting Practices

NY COVID Deaths Soar Above 55,000 as Hochul Adds CDC Data to Daily Report for Transparency

It's a small, easy to implement move on Hochul's part, yet one that breaks with the Cuomo administration's practice of either misrepresenting or concealing the full extent of COVID deaths in New York. Here's an excerpt from the report:

Hochul, who vowed to improve transparency in state government as she took the reins from her controversy-embroiled predecessor, included New York state's total COVID-19 death toll as reported to the CDC in her release -- a count that is more than 10,000 deaths higher (55,395) than the state's report (43,415) and includes the nursing home deaths Andrew Cuomo's office said it excluded to avoid double-counting them.

Hochul can address the potential double counting issue by devoting resources in the state government to identify duplication in the death records. The kind of method that might be used would be similar to the exercise investigative journalists conducted in Michigan, which revealed the state's official COVID death counts are significantly undercounted. Other states routinely review their COVID deaths data to minimize the amount of double counting.