27 August 2021: Howard Zucker Starts Turning on Cuomo

In dig at Cuomo, state health boss Zucker lauds COVID transparency under Hochul

Howard Zucker is New York's Health Commissioner. He has overseen the operations of New York's Department of Health for years, including all the way through the coronavirus pandemic. That includes having a role in developing, implementing and enforcing the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive that led to hundreds, and possibly more than 1,000, excess COVID deaths among New York's nursing home population, not to mention having a direct role in covering up the full extent of those deaths.

This report indicates he has discovered a willingness to turn on Andrew M. Cuomo, we think to preserve his professional career.

Embattled state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has long been criticized as the point-man in disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s efforts to cover-up the true tally of coronavirus deaths of nursing home residents.

But Zucker on Thursday took a swipe at his old boss and suggested he was just following Cuomo’s orders while also praising new Gov. Kathy Hochul’s commitment to releasing more complete COVID-19 data.

“I’m thrilled Gov. Kathy Hochul has taken the helm in the state … Her leadership allowing me and all of DOH to get the data out is refreshing,” Zucker said.

“And her commitment as she has said to transparency is revitalizing,” Zucker said.

Zucker made the remarks before the Health Department’s planning committee approved an emergency order requiring 450,000 health care workers to get the coronavirus vaccine — or risk being fired.

We would not be surprised if Zucker's remarkable transition in favor of providing transparency on the state's COVID performance is motivated by a desire to remain employed.

That was our initial thought, before we proceeded to read the rest of the article which finds we're not alone in our thinking. Here are some quick excerpts....

Zucker’s post-Cuomo conversion as a data reporting champion provoked outrage and eyerolls from nursing home family advocates. They said he’s beyond a rehabilitation or makeover and his just “following orders” defense won’t fly....

“Zucker is trying to cover his tracks. He’s trying to blame everything on disgraced Cuomo — but he was complicit,” said Tracey Alvino, a co-director of VoicesForSeniors....

Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) called Zucker’s remarks “a cowardly act to save his own ass.”

“Zucker’s got to go. He’s beyond unethical. He was Cuomo’s enabler, enforcer and executioner,” said Kim, the Assembly aging committee chairman who was one of the first to call for Cuomo to resign, be impeached and investigated by prosecutors.

That brings us to the next featured editorial.

If Hochul really wants transparency, Zucker needs the old heave-ho

This editorial starts by questioning new Governor Kathy Hochul's commitment to transparency, praising her for making a good start, but noting she has a very noticeable hole in her proclaimed policy:

Most conspicuously, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker still has his job, though he was Cuomo’s wingman in the coverup — including the related coverup of the true toll in state care homes. Yet he’s implicitly pleading I was just following orders.

As the state Department of Health planning council moved to emergency regulations requiring all health-care workers get jabbed, Zucker said he’s “thrilled” Hochul “has taken the helm in the state” and praised her leadership and her “refreshing” move of “allowing me and all of DOH to get the data out.”

This is the guy who issued the infamous March 25, 2020, order forcing nursing homes to take in COVID-contagious patients. The one who said that “to the best of the [Health] Department’s ability,” he had provided “the numbers of deaths by facility, by location of death, by whether confirmed or presumed.”

Dozens of top career Health Department officials quit rather than play along. Zucker stayed.

And he’s still stonewalling the Empire Center, refusing to honor its many Freedom of Information Law requests for COVID data that it unquestionably has handy.

That's anything but transparent. What does Hochul gain by keeping Zucker on the state payroll?