An aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently admitted to hiding nursing home virus numbers from President Trump in an attempt to avoid a federal investigation. This news comes on the heels of NY Attorney General Letitia James revealing that up to 50% of nursing home virus deaths were not reported or, at least, “underreported”. This means that up to 50% of people who died in nursing homes with the virus did not have the virus originally listed as their cause of death. Needless to say, Andrew Cuomo is at the center of a giant whirlwind of controversy as a result of all of this.
Another aide to Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, placed the blame for the literal cover-up on the shoulders of Donald Trump. The aide says Trump was attempting to label Democrat states as being hotbeds for virus deaths. So one can only assume that in order to prevent that, they hid the numbers. So now, rather than having a federal investigation simply over the nursing home deaths, they may now face a criminal investigation for the alleged cover-up and the deaths. Whoever thought that concealing information concerning the death of hundreds, if not thousands, of people made sense did not think their plan all the way through.
Beyond the sheer incompetence that appears to come from Andrew Cuomo’s office, much of the carnage that happened at New York nursing homes was avoidable. Cuomo’s policy was to stick virus-infected patients that appeared to be “doing better” back into nursing homes. Hospitals were also allegedly over crowded with virus patients. Trump’s administration sent the USS Comfort, a 1,000 bed boat to provide relief for that situation. Only 20 patients ever got on the boat at once. So was the Cuomo administration so adverse to working with Trump that they refused to utilize the resources available? This story has quite a few loose ends and unanswered questions to become resolved anytime soon.
SOURCES:
Cuomo aide tells NY Democrats administration hid nursing home data to keep it from Trump DOJ: Report | Fox News
Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa admits they hid nursing home data from feds
New Allegations of Cover-Up by Cuomo Over Nursing Home Virus Toll – The New York Times
Cuomo’s top aide apologizes to NY lawmakers, says administration ‘froze’ after inquiries on Covid-19 deaths at long-term care facilities – CNN
NY undercounted nursing home coronavirus deaths by as much as 50%, state AG says | Fox News
USNS Comfort Hospital Ship Was Supposed to Aid New York. It Has 3 Patients. – The New York Times
Cuomo pressured to resign over nursing home report
