NY COVID Nursing home deaths vastly underreported
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28 Jan 2021, 11:21 am
COVID-19 deaths in NY nursing homes were 50 percent higher than claimed: probe
The bombshell finding was contained in a new 76-page report released Thursday by state Attorney General Letitia James, which found that mismanagement and long-standing problems in the private care business turned nursing homes into COVID death traps.
Lawmakers and nursing home advocates alike have been critical of the Cuomo administration’s virus-related policies governing nursing home protocols, specifically a now-infamous March 25 order that barred homes from turning away COVID-positive individuals.
As part of the report, James’ investigators surveyed 62 nursing homes across the state and found that 1,914 residents from those facilities either died there or at nearby hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus or exhibiting symptoms of the deadly disease.
That figure was 56 percent higher than the numbers for those facilities published by the state Department of Health, which only published the number of people who passed away while still at the nursing homes at the time of their deaths, not those who were subsequently taken to a hospital and then died.
The new report does not increase the number of overall deaths in the Empire State from the coronavirus, which stands at an estimated 42,887 confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University case tracker.
State DOH puts the number at 34,579, but that tally only includes confirmed deaths.
It report also revealed that many nursing homes mishandled patients sick with the disease by failing to properly isolate residents who tested positive for COVID-19.
And, it says that nursing home managers often failed to screen and test employees for the virus, demanding that sick staff continue to care for residents or face punishment or termination.
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30 Jan 2021, 6:10 am
At the beginning of the Pandemic, New York Governor Cuomo ordered individuals infected with the coronavirus to be placed back in nursing homes. It is believed that the explosion of nursing home deaths occurred in part to this policy directive.
The Washington Post slammed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., over his "bad" remark Friday dismissing the importance of an accurate count of COVID-related nursing home deaths.
Cuomo remained defiant during a press conference on Friday after his state Attorney General Letitia James released a report that Cuomo's Department of Health may have underreported coronavirus deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent.
"Look, whether a person died in a hospital or died in a nursing home, it’s -- the people died," Cuomo said, later asking, "Who cares? 33 [percent], 28 [percent], died in a hospital, died in a nursing home. They died!"
That drew fire from the Washington Post, which ran the headline, "Andrew Cuomo’s bad ‘who cares’ answer on coronavirus nursing-home data."
"From public policy perspective, though, we should care," Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake reacted. "A death is indeed a death, but there are major and very valid questions about whether nursing-home policies led to unnecessary ones. To the extent more deaths occurred in or came from that setting, it allows us to evaluate how significant that problem was and how much corrective action is needed. Cuomo has to know that."
Bloomberg columnist Eli Lake blasted members of the mainstream media who "couldn't stop swooning" over New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., amid his nursing home scandal.
Throughout much of the pandemic, Cuomo benefited from glowing media coverage over his response to the coronavirus outbreak despite the growing controversy surrounding his ill-fated nursing home policy last spring. The policy required assisted living facilities to accept COVID-positive patients in order to not overcrowd hospitals, which for months received little to no scrutiny.
"I think it’s safe to say at this point that @andrewcuomo conned the national media on his COVID leadership," Lake tweeted on Friday. "He made a horrendous decision on nursing homes and then covered it up on the death counts. Shame on him."
"But also shame on the journalists who couldn’t stop swooning," Lake added. Cuomo's biggest cheerleader was his little brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who routinely invited the governor onto this show to goof around and tease each other rather than pressing the top Democrat about his role in the nursing home deaths.
Sources:
* Washington Post rips Cuomo's 'Who cares?' remark on nursing home deaths: 'We should care'
* Bloomberg columnist rips media for being 'conned' by Cuomo: Shame on journalists who 'couldn't stop swooning'
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12 Feb 2021, 4:31 pm
Cuomo had long faced criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic -- in early 2020 after he directed nursing homes in the Empire State to accept patients who had or were suspected of having COVID-19. The decision created an onslaught of COVID-19 cases that infected thousands of elderly patients and resulted in hundreds of deaths among the state's most vulnerable population.
In late January, New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed Cuomo's Department of Health underreported COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%. The New York Department of Health reported that as of Jan. 27, 2021, there were 5,957 confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 in nursing homes and an additional 2,783 presumed deaths. In assisted care facilities, there were 160 deaths and 52 presumed deaths. But on Wednesday, the state revealed the number of deaths was actually 15,049 residents in elder care facilities (nursing homes and assisted living/adult care facilities), according to a letter from the State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker sent to Senate Democrats.
Calls for a criminal probe against Cuomo and his staff mounted after Melissa DeRosa, the secretary to the governor, told top New York Democrats on Thursday that Cuomo's administration feared the data about COVID-19 deaths could "be used against us" by the Justice Department in the midst of its federal probe initiated against four states regarding nursing home deaths, including New York, and thus the administration withheld the actual death count.
"She's obstructing an investigation. This is what makes it even more troubling," he added.
Source: NY state lawmaker will ask legislature to impeach Cuomo over nursing home scandal
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
12 Feb 2021, 9:14 pm
CNN was blasted as "an abject disgrace to both the journalism profession and America writ large" in the wake of an aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo admitting the state withheld COVID-19 nursing home death data after months of glowing coverage from the disgraced network.
Gov. Cuomo’s little brother, Chris, hosts "Cuomo Prime Time" on CNN, regularly providing a platform last year for the governor to appeal to viewers by conducting playful on-air conversations masquerading as interviews amid the nursing home scandal.
CNN’s cozy treatment of the governor helped make him a darling of the left during the early stages of the pandemic. CNN set the tone, as hosts who aren’t even related to Gov. Cuomo regularly lavished praise upon his leadership. CNN’s Brian Stelter once declared, "He’s proving hope, but not false hope," and said he would teach his children to follow in the governor’s footsteps.
The CNN host often joked around with his big brother about things such as who is their mother’s favorite child. Days after Cuomo signed an executive order on May 11 stopping hospitals from sending infected patients back to nursing homes, he appeared on his brother’s show for a 25-minute sit-down that made no mention of the tragic nursing home death toll. During one interview that has been widely mocked in media circles, the Cuomo siblings essentially treated CNN viewers to a prop comedy routine at the height of the nursing home crisis as Americans wanted answers.
Source: CNN and the dangerous distortion of truth while New Yorkers died
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
ASPartOfMe
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05 Mar 2021, 10:53 am
Reports: NY officials altered count of nursing home deaths
The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, citing documents and people with knowledge of the administration’s internal discussions, reported that aides including secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa pushed state health officials to edit the July report so only residents who died inside long-term care facilities, and not those who became ill there and later died at a hospital, were counted.
In the wake of Thursday night’s report, some state lawmakers — including fellow Democrats like Assembly members Zohran Kwame Mamdani of Queens and Yuh-Line Niou of Manhattan — called for Cuomo’s impeachment.
“15,000 nursing home residents died. 15,000 of our loved ones died. And Cuomo hid the numbers. Impeach,” tweeted Queens Assembly member Ron Kim, who said Cuomo bullied him over the nursing home response.
The July nursing home report was released to rebut criticism of Cuomo over a March 25 directive that barred nursing homes from rejecting recovering coronavirus patients being discharged from hospitals. Some nursing homes complained at the time that the policy could help spread the virus.
The report concluded the policy played no role in spreading infection.
The state’s analysis was based partly on what officials acknowledged at the time was an imprecise statistic. The report said 6,432 people had died in the state’s nursing homes.
State officials acknowledged that the true number of deaths was higher because of the exclusion of patients who died in hospitals, but they declined at the time to give any estimate of that larger number of deaths, saying the numbers still needed to be verified.
The Times and Journal reported that, in fact, the original drafts of the report had included that number, then more than 9,200 deaths, until Cuomo’s aides said it should be taken out.
State officials insisted Thursday that the edits were made because of concerns about accuracy, not to protect Cuomo’s reputation.
“While early versions of the report included out of facility deaths, the COVID task force was not satisfied that the data had been verified against hospital data and so the final report used only data for in facility deaths, which was disclosed in the report,” said Department of Health Spokesperson Gary Holmes.
Scientists, health care professionals and elected officials assailed the report at the time for flawed methodology and selective stats that sidestepped the actual impact of the directive.
Cuomo had refused for months to release complete data on how the early stages of the pandemic hit nursing home residents. A court order and state attorney general report in January forced the state to acknowledge the nursing home resident death toll was higher than the count previously made public.
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ASPartOfMe
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05 Mar 2021, 9:12 pm
New York Legislature Strips Cuomo Of Extraordinary Emergency Powers, With A Caveat
New York's Senate and Assembly, both of which are led by Cuomo's fellow Democrats, approved the move on Friday. The Senate vote was 43-20; the Assembly vote was 107-43.
Several lawmakers who voted against the legislation Friday said they did so only because they believe it doesn't do enough to wrest power back from the executive branch.
"What more could this governor possibly do?" Republican Sen. Fred Akshar said, adding that Cuomo has issued some 96 orders during the pandemic. Approving the bill, Akshar said, "is worse than doing nothing."
The bill, which is identical in both chambers, allows the governor's COVID-19 directives to stay in effect for 30 days. But while it would stop Cuomo from issuing any new directives without lawmakers' approval, it also would allow the governor's existing directives to be extended.
The measure's supporters said it would be unsafe to suddenly lift all of the orders, noting that despite the arrival of vaccines, the pandemic isn't over. Cuomo has used the powers to enact a number of policies, from establishing capacity maximums for movie theaters to creating color-coded restriction zones and setting up quarantine restrictions for travelers.
But during Friday's debate, several lawmakers called for Cuomo's orders to be lifted immediately, and for him to face recriminations for his handling of the pandemic.
During debate on the bill, many lawmakers referenced the political turmoil Cuomo is now in. But as they discussed repealing the governor's emergency powers, many legislators also returned to a common theme: that their constituents are ready for their lives and businesses to start returning to normal.
"We demand to go back to work. We demand to send our children back to school," Republican Assemblyman Robert Smullen said, calling for his colleagues to repeal the law that granted Cuomo the powers last year.
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“Self Acceptance is a process not a performance”
“You are autistic enough. And you always have been”
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
