The state Well being Division deliberately “misled the general public” concerning the variety of nursing dwelling deaths from COVID-19 to assist burnish former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s popularity earlier than a sexual harassment scandal pressured him to resign in shame, in line with a blistering comptroller’s audit launched Tuesday.
Auditors discovered that DOH officers undercounted the loss of life toll by no less than 4,100 residents and at occasions by greater than 50 p.c, permitting Cuomo to repeatedly and falsely declare that New York was doing a greater job than different states in defending extremely susceptible seniors, the report says.
“Whereas the Division’s obligation is to behave solely to advertise public well being, we decided that, reasonably than offering correct and dependable info throughout a public well being emergency, the Division as an alternative conformed its presentation to the Govt’s narrative, usually presenting information in a fashion that misled the general public,” the report says.
In a ready assertion, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli referred to as the audit findings “extraordinarily troubling.”
“Households have a proper to know if their beloved one’s COVID-19 loss of life was counted, however many nonetheless don’t have solutions from the state Division of Well being,” he stated.
“The general public was misled by these on the highest degree of state authorities by means of distortion and suppression of the information when New Yorkers deserved the reality.”
DiNapoli additionally accused the DOH of hindering his probe by delaying the manufacturing of knowledge requested by his workplace, limiting auditors’ entry to DOH staffers, not answering questions throughout conferences and never offering supporting documentation for its claims.
“These usually are not routine actions by state businesses present process an Workplace of the State Comptroller audit and lift critical considerations concerning the management setting at DOH,” his workplace stated in a press launch.
The 58-page audit says that the DOH “used alternating methodologies to account for nursing dwelling deaths” through the pandemic and “persistently underreported the overall quantity” till Feb. 4, 2021 — a few week after state Lawyer Common Letitia James issued a report that stated the state’s official nursing dwelling loss of life toll could have been undercounted by as a lot as 50 p.c.
In a ready assertion, James stated that DiNapoli had confirmed “lots of the findings that we uncovered final yr concerning the state’s response to COVID, most notably that DOH and the previous governor undercounted the variety of deaths in nursing properties.”
“I'm grateful to Comptroller DiNapoli for bringing a lot wanted transparency to this important problem,” she stated.
“My workplace will proceed to observe nursing dwelling situations and make sure the security of our most susceptible residents.”
Within the wake of James’ report, The Publish solely revealed that high Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa was recorded secretly telling state Democratic lawmakers on Feb. 10, 2021 that his administration lined up the nursing dwelling loss of life toll as a result of a possible federal probe into the state’s response to the pandemic.
“As a result of then we had been ready the place we weren’t certain if what we had been going to offer to the Division of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we begin saying, was going for use in opposition to us whereas we weren’t certain if there was going to be an investigation,” she stated.
Previous to the revelations, Cuomo, 64, was driving excessive on the recognition of his every day coronavirus briefings, for which he was awarded the Worldwide Emmys’ “Founders Award” throughout a livestreamed occasion that includes celebrities Robert DeNiro, Ben Stiller, Spike Lee, Rosie Perez, Billy Crystal and Billy Joel.
However the Feb. 24, 2021, publication of a web-based essay by which former state growth official Lindsey Boylan accused him of sexual harassment led to an avalanche of accusations and a probe by James that concluded he’d harassed 11 girls, together with 9 present or former state workers.
He resigned in August below menace of an all-but-certain impeachment, claiming that the scandal surrounding him was “politically motivated” however that he wished to spare the state “months of political and authorized controversy.”
Youthful brother Chris Cuomo’s profession as a CNN host additionally went down in flames when proof launched by James late final yr revealed that he labored behind the scenes together with his brother’s advisers amid the scandal and secretly tried to dig up dust on no less than one accuser.
Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), whose uncle died of suspected COVID-19 in a nursing dwelling, stated he was “very grateful” for DiNapoli’s “thorough audit that validates what many nursing dwelling households knew already: The previous governor suppressed and lined up life and loss of life info that would have been used to avoid wasting lives.”
“I imagine that is felony public fraud and I be a part of the victims’ households in calling for full accountability,” he stated.
Cuomo’s spokesman, Wealthy Azzopardi, tried to downplay and discredit the audit.
“Because the variety of out of facility deaths had been reported final January this isn't information, nevertheless what's peculiar is the Comptroller’s launch of this audit now — however nobody has ever accused him of being above politics,” Azzopardi stated in an electronic mail.
The DOH didn’t instantly return a request for remark, however in a written response to a draft model of DiNapoli’s audit took problem with lots of its conclusions.
The DOH stated the auditors didn’t “take correct account of the assorted varieties of quantitative and qualitative info that Division personnel have used to help in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic; the assorted sensible trade-offs that exist between several types of an infection and mortality information; or the affirmative efforts that Division personnel have remodeled the previous a number of years to boost each the scope and the reliability of the knowledge collected from nursing properties to satisfy the challenges face within the ongoing pandemic.”
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