New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is pointing his finger at the Trump administration after a report published by New York Attorney General Letitia James showed Cuomo’s administration undercounted the number of COVID-19 related deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%.
“Where this starts, is, frankly, a political attack from the prior federal administration and HHS and their great spokesperson Michael Caputo, who is a Roger Stone protégé,” Cuomo said during his press briefing on Friday.
Watch his remarks below:
Caputo released a statement to respond to Cuomo.
“Early on, experts at the Health and Human Services administration identified Cuomo’s foolish executive order as a primary cause for thousands of nursing home COVID deaths in New York. He’s right, I called him out on it immediately,” Caputo said.
He continued, “Cuomo is personally responsible for thousands of unnecessary nursing home deaths and he must be held accountable.”
Michael Caputo responds to Cuomo over reporting on nursing home deaths from COVID pic.twitter.com/X8pQA2e2AS
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 29, 2021
The attorney general’s report surveyed 62 nursing homes, 10% of New York’s total facilities, as IJR reported.
“Preliminary data obtained by OAG suggests that many nursing home residents died from COVID-19 in hospitals after being transferred from their nursing homes, which is not reflected in [the Department of Health’s] published total nursing home death data,” the summary of the report reads.
The summary adds, “In one example, a facility reported five confirmed and six presumed COVID-19 deaths at the facility as of August 3 to DOH. However, the facility reported to OAG a total of 27 COVID-19 deaths at the facility and 13 hospital deaths — a discrepancy of 29 deaths.”
The attorney general’s office is investigating more than 20 nursing homes.
“As the pandemic and our investigations continue, it is imperative that we understand why the residents of nursing homes in New York unnecessarily suffered at such an alarming rate,” James said in a statement.