2 September 2021: Calls for NY Senate Committee to Subpoena Howard Zucker

Borrello, Serino Call On Health Dept. Subpoenas

Two New York state senators are calling for the chair of the Senate's Aging Committee to subpoena New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker on his role in covering up the full extent of COVID deaths in New York nursing homes and in the state.

In an effort to provide full transparency around the 12,000 additional COVID deaths the public has learned the Cuomo administration concealed from official figures, state Sens. Sue Serino and George Borrello are calling on Sen. Rachel May, D-Syracuse and Senate Aging Committee chairwoman, to use her subpoena power to compel Commissioner Howard Zucker to testify under oath about how the undercount transpired, who was involved and other key decisions pertaining to the state’s pandemic response.

The state senators note that May originally denied motions to issue subpoenas earlier in the year:

As the letter by Serino and Borrello states: “As Chairwoman of the committee, you denied these motions on that day [February 9], and additionally on March 16 and May 11, even stating in one denial that you didn’t ‘see the point’ in issuing subpoenas. The events that have unfolded since that time, including the subsequent resignation of the scandal-scarred former Governor, make it clear that there were, in fact, many reasons to issue these subpoenas.”

“The Cuomo administration’s public COVID response was a carefully choreographed drama, positioned at all times to make Andrew Cuomo look like a hero,” said Senator Borrello. “We know now that facts and figures that didn’t fit that narrative were manipulated to maintain the image. We cannot fully move on from this dark chapter until we know the truth. To that end, we urge Senator May to do the right thing on behalf of the families of all 55,400 people lost to this virus and on behalf of all New Yorkers, and subpoena Commissioner Zucker.”

From our perspective, it's an overdue action. Zucker clearly played a significant role in setting the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and in the administration's doctoring of the state Department of Health's 6 July 2020 report, which both covered up the full extent of COVID deaths among New York nursing home residents and absolved the Cuomo administration's policies of any responsibility in contributing to the deaths.