New York Lied About Nursing Home Death to Help Cuomo
The New York State Health Department intentionally lied to the public about nursing home deaths in order to help then-Governor Andrew Cuomo push a narrative that he was doing a great job in the fight against the virus.
Auditors from the state comptroller’s office found that state health officials purposely undercounted nursing home deaths by at least 4,100, according to a newly released report. This allowed Cuomo to falsely claim that he was doing a better job than other states in protecting the lives of seniors.
“While the Department’s duty is to act solely to promote public health, we determined that, rather than providing accurate and reliable information during a public health emergency, the Department instead conformed its presentation to the Executive’s narrative, often presenting data in a manner that misled the public,” the report says, with Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli calling the findings “extremely troubling.”
“Families have a right to know if their loved one’s COVID-19 death was counted, but many still don’t have answers from the state Department of Health,” DiNapoli said. “The public was misled by those at the highest level of state government through distortion and suppression of the facts when New Yorkers deserved the truth.”