State Attorney General Letitia James’ report on New York’s nursing-home horror proves Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been covering up the truth. The death toll …
State Attorney General Letitia James’ report on New York’s nursing-home horror proves Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been covering up the truth. The death toll is at least 50 percent higher than Team Cuomo admitted. Worse is Cuomo’s years of indifference to the dangerous conditions in many of the state’s nursing homes. The value of James’ report is in calling attention to these conditions, particularly the absence of rigorous infection control, setting the stage for the COVID-19 devastation. Unfortunately, James offered only flimsy proposals. After the state has coped with the pandemic, it has another important job to do: shuttering the worst of these nursing facilities and ensuring the elderly in our state live in decent conditions. James’ report is making headlines because she examined a question the governor wanted to hide. On March 25, Cuomo’s Department of Health ordered nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients being discharged from hospitals and barred the nursing facilities from requiring any tests for admission. Facilities had to fly blind. The virus raced through these homes, killing thousands. To minimize the political fallout, Cuomo’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, began fudging the statistics. Until April, New York had reported all nursing home residents who died from COVID-19, whether they died at the home or after being sent to the hospital.
