The former New York governor and his team reported less COVID deaths at nursing homes than the actual number as found out by a recent audit.
The New York Department of Health under the leadership of former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo understated COVID deaths at nursing homes and failed to account for over 4,000 deaths, a new audit has revealed. The audit was released by the New York Office of the State Comptroller on Tuesday, revealing the truth about the former governor's response to the COVID pandemic in his state.
According to the Christian Post, auditors with the New York Office of the State Comptroller examined how the Health Department addressed the COVID cases in state nursing homes, which at the time of Cuomo's leadership was plunged into controversy. The report stated, "Providing access to government data engenders transparency and promotes public trust."
"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 audit report from New York's comptroller's office stated.
The report alleges that Cuomo's Health Department "misled the public" when it presented data on COVID deaths in nursing homes. Furthermore, the state Health Department "was not transparent in its reporting of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes."
The report declared, "Whether due to the poor-quality data that it was collecting initially or, later, a deliberate decision, for certain periods during the pandemic, the Department understated the number of deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50%."
Results of the audit showed that from April 2020 to February 2021, the New York Health Department under Cuomo failed to account for "approximately 4,100 lives" taken by the coronavirus. The audit also cited poor funding over the past decade that contributed to the Health Department's missteps in reporting accurate COVID statistics. The audit said that "by all accounts," the Health Department staff "worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic."
According to the New York Post, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli described the audit results as "extremely troubling." The comptroller also lamented how families have the right to know if the COVID deaths of their loved ones were counted. He highlighted how to this day, the New York Department of Health has failed to provide answers to the families affected by Cuomo's actions.
"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," DiNapoli said in a statement. The comptroller continued to accuse the health department of hindering the investigation by delaying the submission of data to the comptroller's office and limiting their access to the department's staffers, failing to answer questions during meetings and refusing to provide supporting documentation.
The 58-page audit released by the New York Office of the State Comptroller furthermore showed that the state's Department of Health under Cuomo had "used alternating methodologies to account for nursing home deaths" during the COVID pandemic and "consistently underreported the total number."
