A report from New York Attorney General Leticia James’ office on Thursday found the state might have undercounted the number of nursing home deaths from COVID-19 by as much as half.
The report drew calls from Republican State Senators including the Rochester area’s Rob Ortt and Pam Helming calling for State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker and Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign. Zucker released a vigorous defense of the state’s policies, saying the report implies there are more fatalities than have been reported, which is not true.
The AG’s report found that that deaths of nursing home patients who were transferred and then died in hospitals were counted as hospital, and not nursing home deaths. It also found higher death rates from COVID at nursing facilities that had staffing shortage problems and lacked compliance with infection control protocols.
Governor Cuomo and the State Health Department have been consistently criticized for lack of transparency in reporting nursing home deaths since the start of the pandemic.