#CUOMO NURSING HOME VISITS FULL#

'These findings will have implications across New York state and they cannot be dismissed as political attacks,' the statement read. Shortly after James' report was made public, New York's Republican Party issued a statement condemning Cuomo's handling of the pandemic and accusing him of a 'cover-up.' If the positivity level in a county is under 5 on a seven-day rolling average, no test is required to visit the nursing homes, though state officials recommend it, said Dr. While much of the scrutiny of Cuomo's nursing home policy has come from fellow Democrats and the media, the issue has increasingly become a political liability for the governor. In a statement, James, also a Democrat, said 'it is imperative that we understand why the residents of nursing homes in New York unnecessarily suffered at such an alarming rate.'

#CUOMO NURSING HOME VISITS FULL#

This new report adds to the pressure on Cuomo's team to offer a full accounting of nursing home mortality. James Skoufis, threatened to file subpoenas to 'compel' Health Department officials to release more information. Last summer, a report by state health officials concluded high rates of coronavirus death in nursing homes were caused by infected staff, not returning residents.īut Cuomo's team has refused to make public the data used to compile that report.Įarlier this week, a top Democrat in the state legislature, Sen.

His administration later rescinded the controversial order. 'DOH does not disagree that the number of people transferred from a nursing home to a hospital is an important data point, and is in the midst of auditing this data from nursing homes,' Zucker added.ĭuring the pandemic, Cuomo, a Democrat, gained a national profile for his hands-on approach to promoting public health policies and reducing infection rates.įor a time, his daily briefings drew a national audience, serving as a kind of counterpoint to coronavirus briefings held by then-President Donald Trump.īut questions about Cuomo's handling of nursing home safety have haunted his administration.Ĭuomo has drawn particular fire for an executive order issued in March requiring nursing homes to re-admit residents still recovering from COVID-19. The 14-day requirement has been in place since September. Which means if an elderly patient died after being transported to a hospital, they wouldn't be included in the tally of nursing home deaths. New York barred nursing home visits completely in March as the pandemic began to take hold, but later relaxed restrictions somewhat. reported coronavirus fatalities by the location where they occurred. Howard Zucker issued a lengthy statement Thursday afternoon downplaying the significance of the findings. The AG's office says it is still 'investigating those circumstances where the discrepancies cannot reasonably be accounted for,' according to a statement in the report.Ĭuomo himself hasn't responded to the report. Investigators surveyed more than 60 nursing homes and found discrepancies between the number of deaths recorded and numbers previously reported by state officials.

Cuomo nursing home visits