New York Attorney General. Letitia James, on Thursday, released a 76-page report from her office’s investigation into New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s death toll count as a result of his nursing home COVID mandate, March 25, 2020.
The policy placed “medically stable” infected coronavirus patients in nursing homes. Since then, cases and deaths within the homes have skyrocketed.
A report was released in July by the Health Department to counteract the claim that the mandate led to more infections. It said that the patients in the nursing homes “were no longer contagious when admitted therefore were not a source of infection.”
The report released by the Attorney General’s office, states that the New York Department of Health underreported the deaths by as much as 50%. Their last report made placed the death toll at upwards of 8,500 which is out of the current estimated 42,000 deaths in the state.
James said in a statement, ““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. “While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves and to spur increased action to protect our most vulnerable residents.”
This news comes just days after Cuomo said the pandemic death rate was high due to “incompetent government.”