Many of our readers, and New Yorkers, may not know the name Letitia James….until now. James, the Attorney General of New York State, issued a report on Jan 28, which found that “A larger number of nursing home residents died from COVID-19 than DOH data reflected.”
In her 76-page report, AG James accused Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Department of Health of “undercounting” the number of seniors in nursing homes that died from COVID. Hours after James issued the report, the State revised their number of Nursing Home COVID deaths to 12,743 up 43% from the original number of 8,914, basically admitting to the finding in the James report.
Prior to the change, Cuomo and DOH Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker have been adamant that the number of New York nursing home residents who have died from COVID has NOT been underreported. The higher number resulted from adding in residents who caught COVID in nursing homes and then went to hospitals where they later died.
Attorney General James’ office received more than 950 complaints about Nursing homes last year. The report also lays blame on the 304 nursing homes in New York and their operators. 20 of those NY Nursing homes are now under investigation by the State AG. The report found that operators failed to properly isolate COVID-positive residents; failed to adequately screen or test employees; forced sick staff to continue working and caring for residents; failed to train employees in infection control protocols; and failed to obtain, fit, and train caregivers with PPE.
Cuomo’s handling of the nursing home COVID crisis has been widely reported on, most notably a directive on March 25 from the Dep. Of Health requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients if hospitals didn’t have room for them anymore. The result was more than 6,000 positive patients returning to nursing homes between March and May of 2020, which accelerated the spread of COVID to others in nursing home residents.
Gov. Cuomo and Dr. Zucker have always stated that they were following federal guidelines from the CDC, Centers for Disease Control, and that the number of COVID nursing home deaths in other large states have been similar, including: Pennsylvania with 10,287 nursing home deaths (49% of their total deaths), Florida with 9,273 nursing home deaths (35% of their total deaths), Massachusetts with 7,944 nursing home deaths (56% of their total deaths) and New Jersey with 7,733 nursing home deaths (36% of their total deaths).
Many are also analyzing AG James report in the prism of politics. While Cuomo requested the investigation by the AG of the COVID nursing home deaths, many in Albany surprised that the AG would put herself in direct conflict with Gov. Cuomo, who was said to be surprised by the report.
Republicans jumped to blame Cuomo for the deaths. Upstate NY Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said, “This is now more than a nursing home scandal. This is a massive corruption and cover-up scandal.”
Democrats wanted more information, and time to review the report. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, “The tragic situation in our nursing homes remains a heartbreaking reminder of the toll this pandemic took on this state. Nothing will bring back our loved ones that we lost but it is crucial that information guides our responses so this will not happen again.”
NY U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand called for a full investigation of nursing home deaths across the country.
Some have wondered why Cuomo and Zucker didn’t release the information when it was available, in May 2020. Other New Yorkers are praising AG James for going where the truth lies, no matter what.
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.”
― Thomas Paine
