26 July 2022: House GOP Demands Records on New York COVID Nursing Home Deaths

House GOP demands records on New York COVID nursing home deaths

GOP lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have requested NY replacement governor Kathy Hochul provide records related to the implementation of Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2022 directive. Here's the introduction to this report:

House Republicans are demanding that Gov. Kathy Hochul turn over data and records regarding coronavirus-related deaths in New York nursing homes — particularly information surrounding a controversial Cuomo-era policy that required the facilities to admit recovering COVID-19 patients.

The request comes while Hochul faces criticism for slow-walking her own “independent” probe of New York’s early response to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak, when disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo — under whom she served as lieutenant governor — was in charge.

The report lists the information the lawmakers are seeking Hochul to produce by 9 August 2022:

– Nursing home patient deaths (including nursing residents who died in hospitals) from Jan. 1, 2020, to present. More than 15,000 New York nursing home residents have died from COVID-19.

– All state-issued guidance, directives, advisories or executive orders regarding hospital discharges to nursing homes or any and all other types of assisted living facilities.

– Underlying information, documents and research used by the state health department to draft the July 6, 2020, report titled “Factors Associated with Nursing Home Infections and Fatalities in New York State During the COVID-19 Global Health Crisis.” The much-maligned in-house report insisted state policies did not contribute to COVID-related nursing home deaths.

– Communications between Cuomo’s office and the health department regarding COVID-19 mitigation efforts in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

– Documents and communications between state health department officials and nursing home administrators relating to the implementation of a controversial March 25, 2020, “must admit” order to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals during the worst of the pandemic. Some studies suggested the policy contributed to nursing home infections and deaths because the facilities lacked the ability to isolate or quarantine patients or had adequate personal protective equipment to control the spread.

– Information exchanged between the governor’s office and the US Justice Department regarding COVID-19 in nursing homes. The Justice Department has investigated Cuomo’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic, including whether the publishing of his book about the outbreak affected policy decisions.

The request confirms the scandals related to Andrew M. Cuomo's signature pandemic policy are not going away anytime soon.