COVID RESPONSE IN NEW YORK STATE

[thelivyjr]

The New York Post

"Gov. Cuomo’s ‘heartless’ distortions can’t hide truth: Goodwin"

By Michael Goodwin

February 15, 2021 | 9:53pm

A second Emmy would not be good enough for that performance.

Only an Oscar will do.

After all, it takes an uncommon actor to pretend to be telling the truth and nothing but the truth when you are telling everything but the truth.

Gov. Cuomo’s latest bid to tame the cascading waves of criticism over his handling of the nursing home catastrophe was so riddled with falsehoods and misinformation that it’s hard to know what he was thinking.

Does he really believe he’s viewed as a trustworthy person whose word is taken at face value in Albany and beyond?

If so, then he must stop listening to his CNN brother and the people paid to say what he wants to hear.

Because there aren’t a lot of buyers for his B.S., even among fellow Democrats, many of whom are in open revolt against him.

The most obvious takeaway from Monday’s act is that Cuomo still accepts zero responsibility for the 15,000 deaths in nursing homes and similar facilities.

His only feint toward self-criticism is that he didn’t get information out fast enough.

That “void,” he said “was filed with skepticism, cynicism and conspiracy theories which furthered confusion.”

This is a tired political trick, insisting the only issue is one of public relations and messaging.

In fact, it was Cuomo himself who created the cynicism and conspiracy theories.

Recall that he labeled all criticism of the nursing home disaster pure “politics” and blamed God, The Post, Donald Trump, federal health officials, nursing home operators, their staffs, grieving families and anybody else — except himself.

He also continues to distort the content of the infamous March 25th order that required nursing homes to take patients infected with the coronavirus.

His claim that the facilities were given the option to say no if they couldn’t care for those patients is false.

Nowhere does the order say that.

Quite the opposite, it says “all NHs must comply with the expedited receipt of residents returning from hospitals to NHs.”

It says the hospital makes the decision and adds: “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19."

"NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

The order took effect immediately, and home operators told The Post their efforts to delay accepting the infected patients or have them sent to the nearly-empty Javits Center or the Naval ship Comfort were denied, though the state did send them body bags.

Some if not most facilities did not have protective equipment or room to separate COVID patients from others, and very few had enough staff that could be assigned to either COVID or COVID-free patients.

It didn’t matter — the order allowed no exceptions or delays.

It was in effect from March 25th until May 10th, when Cuomo effectively rescinded it and it was soon scrubbed from state Web sites.

In total, some 9,000 infected COVID patients were sent from hospitals to nursing homes and similar facilities.

Those unshakeable facts alone undercut everything Cuomo says.

His repeated falsehoods about the order and its impact are the ultimate sign of bad faith because he had to know the danger in sending COVID-19 patients into facilities filled with the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

Yet he did it and still defends it.

Another piece of Fake News Monday was his claim that “all deaths in nursing homes were fully, publicly and accurately reported.”

Later he added, “Nothing was hidden.”

The truth is that, when Attorney General and Democratic ally Letitia James released her report in late January saying Cuomo had undercounted nursing home deaths by 50 percent, the state was reporting about 8,700 deaths in such facilities.

The number now stands at about 15,000 — because of the James report and because a judge ordered Cuomo to release the numbers in response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit.

Many of those deaths go back months and months, and Cuomo had refused to release the totals, so ignore his claims to the contrary.

One result is that, as others have noted, his Emmy and book contract were awarded based on false and incomplete information.

Had the deaths been promptly reported, he probably would not have been feted by Hollywood or received a fat publisher’s check.

He should return both.

While much of his Monday performance was infuriating, there were also elements of tragedy and sadness because the governor comes across as cold and heartless.

The nature of nursing-home deaths was especially brutal in that loved ones had been banned from the facilities and many families couldn’t even talk to their dying parents and relatives.

Some couldn’t hold funerals.

Yet Cuomo has refused to meet with bereaved families or even respond personally by e-mail or phone with many who have tried to reach him.

Fox meteorologist Janice Dean, who lost both of her in-laws in nursing homes, challenged him to hold a town hall with bereaved families.

Cuomo ignored her and his staff insulted her.

Although the governor keeps talking about his father’s death and says, “I understand,” and “I get it” about family grief, it doesn’t come across as genuine sympathy.

Instead, it looks and feels like one more piece of armor designed to shield him from responsibility.

It’s not working.

He can run but he can’t hide from the truth.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/15/cuomos-he ... h-goodwin/

[thelivyjr]

The New York Post

"Gov. Cuomo’s ‘heartless’ distortions can’t hide truth: Goodwin"

By Michael Goodwin

February 15, 2021 | 9:53pm

A second Emmy would not be good enough for that performance.

Only an Oscar will do.

After all, it takes an uncommon actor to pretend to be telling the truth and nothing but the truth when you are telling everything but the truth.

Gov. Cuomo’s latest bid to tame the cascading waves of criticism over his handling of the nursing home catastrophe was so riddled with falsehoods and misinformation that it’s hard to know what he was thinking.

Does he really believe he’s viewed as a trustworthy person whose word is taken at face value in Albany and beyond?

If so, then he must stop listening to his CNN brother and the people paid to say what he wants to hear.

Because there aren’t a lot of buyers for his B.S., even among fellow Democrats, many of whom are in open revolt against him.

The most obvious takeaway from Monday’s act is that Cuomo still accepts zero responsibility for the 15,000 deaths in nursing homes and similar facilities.

His only feint toward self-criticism is that he didn’t get information out fast enough.

That “void,” he said “was filed with skepticism, cynicism and conspiracy theories which furthered confusion.”

This is a tired political trick, insisting the only issue is one of public relations and messaging.

In fact, it was Cuomo himself who created the cynicism and conspiracy theories.

Recall that he labeled all criticism of the nursing home disaster pure “politics” and blamed God, The Post, Donald Trump, federal health officials, nursing home operators, their staffs, grieving families and anybody else — except himself.

He also continues to distort the content of the infamous March 25th order that required nursing homes to take patients infected with the coronavirus.

His claim that the facilities were given the option to say no if they couldn’t care for those patients is false.

Nowhere does the order say that.

Quite the opposite, it says “all NHs must comply with the expedited receipt of residents returning from hospitals to NHs.”

It says the hospital makes the decision and adds: “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19."

"NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

The order took effect immediately, and home operators told The Post their efforts to delay accepting the infected patients or have them sent to the nearly-empty Javits Center or the Naval ship Comfort were denied, though the state did send them body bags.

Some if not most facilities did not have protective equipment or room to separate COVID patients from others, and very few had enough staff that could be assigned to either COVID or COVID-free patients.

It didn’t matter — the order allowed no exceptions or delays.

It was in effect from March 25th until May 10th, when Cuomo effectively rescinded it and it was soon scrubbed from state Web sites.

In total, some 9,000 infected COVID patients were sent from hospitals to nursing homes and similar facilities.

Those unshakeable facts alone undercut everything Cuomo says.

His repeated falsehoods about the order and its impact are the ultimate sign of bad faith because he had to know the danger in sending COVID-19 patients into facilities filled with the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

Yet he did it and still defends it.

Another piece of Fake News Monday was his claim that “all deaths in nursing homes were fully, publicly and accurately reported.”

Later he added, “Nothing was hidden.”

The truth is that, when Attorney General and Democratic ally Letitia James released her report in late January saying Cuomo had undercounted nursing home deaths by 50 percent, the state was reporting about 8,700 deaths in such facilities.

The number now stands at about 15,000 — because of the James report and because a judge ordered Cuomo to release the numbers in response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit.

Many of those deaths go back months and months, and Cuomo had refused to release the totals, so ignore his claims to the contrary.

One result is that, as others have noted, his Emmy and book contract were awarded based on false and incomplete information.

Had the deaths been promptly reported, he probably would not have been feted by Hollywood or received a fat publisher’s check.

He should return both.

While much of his Monday performance was infuriating, there were also elements of tragedy and sadness because the governor comes across as cold and heartless.

The nature of nursing-home deaths was especially brutal in that loved ones had been banned from the facilities and many families couldn’t even talk to their dying parents and relatives.

Some couldn’t hold funerals.

Yet Cuomo has refused to meet with bereaved families or even respond personally by e-mail or phone with many who have tried to reach him.

Fox meteorologist Janice Dean, who lost both of her in-laws in nursing homes, challenged him to hold a town hall with bereaved families.

Cuomo ignored her and his staff insulted her.

Although the governor keeps talking about his father’s death and says, “I understand,” and “I get it” about family grief, it doesn’t come across as genuine sympathy.

Instead, it looks and feels like one more piece of armor designed to shield him from responsibility.

It’s not working.

He can run but he can’t hide from the truth.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/15/cuomos-he ... h-goodwin/

"Cuomo blames Trump as he defends COVID-19 policies before Congress - Former governor pushes back on allegations he and his top aides manipulated fatality data in 2020 to shift blame from a controversial nursing home directive"

By Brendan J. Lyons, Managing Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

Sep 10, 2024

ALBANY — Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo testified before a congressional subcommittee Tuesday and pushed back on allegations that he and his top aides manipulated fatality data in 2020 to shift blame from a controversial directive that his critics have said caused thousands of nursing home deaths.

The partisan-tinged hearing, which for Cuomo was the culmination of a nearly yearlong investigation by the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, revealed little new information about the policy decisions of Cuomo’s administration during the pandemic.

It also degenerated at times to fingerpointing as Cuomo and Democrats on the subcommittee blamed former President Donald J. Trump for any failures with the pandemic response, while Republicans chastised the former governor for failing to be accountable for his mistakes.

“It appears there’s to be no soul searching from you, governor."

"I’m sorry,” subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, told Cuomo at the end of the more than two-hour hearing.

“No self-critique of what could have been done better and improved upon, just doubling down, blaming others."

"… This hearing was an opportunity to learn about our COVID-19 response and how we can improve future responses."

"… This is about trying to be better in the future.”

Several Democrats on the subcommittee also remarked that they are interested in using the investigation to improve future responses to pandemics and public health crises.

But some reminded Cuomo that he was under oath — a reminder that their investigation had revealed instances of the governor or his aides giving inaccurate or conflicting testimony during earlier interviews.

“I want to make something abundantly clear, any public official who sought to obscure transparency or mislead the American people during the COVID-19 pandemic should answer to the American public regardless of political party, and that is why the former governor and members of his administration faced serious questions from both sides of the aisle about allegations that they misrepresented nursing home fatality data to evade public scrutiny during the closed door transcribed interviews that led up to this hearing,” Ruiz said.

The subcommittee’s investigation had focused on a March 25, 2020, directive that had been issued by the state Department of Health instructing New York’s more than 600 nursing homes to accept residents even if they had tested positive for COVID-19.

Cuomo has defended that directive — although it was rescinded six weeks after it was issued — contending it followed federal guidance and that nursing facilities were not supposed to accept COVID-19 residents unless they could do so safely.

But his critics noted that the wording of New York’s guidance had included words such as “shall” and “must” that caused confusion and led many nursing home operators to believe they had no choice but to accept residents who were infected with the coronavirus.

Many of those residents were individuals who were not considered sick enough to require hospitalization and were returned home — for many of them that was a nursing home.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, who sat on the panel Tuesday but is not a member of the subcommittee, noted that Cuomo’s assertions about his office not having a role in the drafting of the March 2020 directive were refuted by the testimony of Health Department officials.

They included one of the people who had a direct role in writing the directive and who testified that the Executive Chamber had “absolutely” signed off on the guidance before it was issued.

After he was given six minutes to make an opening statement, Cuomo repeatedly cast blame at Trump.

“How do you explain that the United States lost more people than China that has four times the population,” Cuomo said.

“And we know why we lost, why this happened, because the president denied it for months."

"… He systematically failed to supply the states with critical medical equipment, and PPE, (and) he set off an interstate death match for medical supplies telling governors simply to 'try getting it yourselves.'”

'Trump delivered'

But several subcommittee members noted that Cuomo’s administration had declined to send infected nursing home residents to the Javits Center in Manhattan, which had been transformed into a makeshift hospital, or to the Navy’s USNS Comfort medical ship, which Trump’s administration had dispatched to New York City to help augment overwhelmed hospitals and nursing facilities.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, noted that in April 2020 Cuomo had been interviewed by radio host Howard Stern and said at the time that “Trump has delivered for New York.”

“You then you talked about Trump sending the ship, the (USNS) Comfort ship,” Taylor Greene said.

“Mind you, that the Comfort ship was sent to New York on March 30 of 2020, that was just a few days after you signed the directive to put COVID-19 patients into nursing homes on March 25 which led to murdering people’s parents, grandparents and great grandparents.”

(Cuomo did not sign the directive but his name was listed on the masthead of the guidance.)

After he was sworn in Tuesday, Cuomo began his opening remarks apologizing “to the families of the victims here today and across the country."

"I am sorry for your loss, and I believe you are owed in an apology, because this country should have done better.”

The former governor’s assertion — that he was unaware of the directive that had been issued to ease pressure on New York hospitals as there were concerns they would become overwhelmed with patients — echoes public statements he made in April 2020, a month after it was issued, when he claimed during a news conference that he was not familiar with the advisory.

The 48-page report on the investigation released Monday by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic outlined several instances in which Cuomo as well as some of his former top aides may have made false or misleading statements — during the pandemic or in their testimony to Congress — and also allegedly encouraged members of their administration to be untruthful.

The report also revealed testimony by former top aides to Cuomo who disputed his administration’s assertions that his office had no part in editing a controversial July 2020 report that had been attributed to the state Department of Health and sought to deflect blame for thousands of nursing home deaths from the March 2020 order — and instead shifting the responsibility to infected staff members.

“Good people went home, went out to a restaurant, got the bug, they brought it to work the next day,” Cuomo said Tuesday, reiterating the findings of the July 2020 report.

“Every study says that, and that has nothing to do with hospital admissions or readmissions.”

'The true authors of the report'

Still, the subcommittee’s report includes testimony that confirmed the July 2020 report, which was on the letterhead of the state Department of Health, had largely been drafted by members of Cuomo’s office.

Dr. Eleanor Adams, an epidemiologist who had graduated from Harvard Medical School and served as a special adviser to former New York Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, was a contributor of the Health Department’s July 2020 report.

But when she testified before the subcommittee in April, Adams said that she did not consider herself or anyone else at the agency to be the true authors of the report.

“I consistently voiced that I didn’t think this should be a (Department of Health) report,” Adams testified.

“I provided edits as directed and asked, but they were not all accepted."

"And I told Dr. Zucker that I did not think this should be labeled as a Department of Health report as presented.”

The Times Union reported exclusively in June 2021 that the origin of the March 2020 memo to nursing homes stemmed from an urgent late-night call to Health Department officials from a top administrator at a Newburgh hospital.

He informed them a van had just dropped off more than 15 nursing home residents who had tested positive for COVID-19, and if more followed it could create a critical shortage of beds.

None of the nursing home residents clinically required hospitalization.

Other nursing facility operators were also beginning to move residents infected with COVID-19 to hospitals out of fear they could spread the illness in the assisted-living facilities.

Cuomo had been publicly declaring that New York would not be able to maintain enough hospital beds for coronavirus patients if infection rates continued to climb.

Inside the governor’s office, that March 2020 phone call from an official at Montefiore St. Luke’s hospital in Newburgh prompted the administration to craft the hastily prepared memo that directed nursing homes to allow residents infected with COVID-19 to remain in or return to those facilities, even if they were still testing positive.

The memorandum had stated: “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the (nursing home) solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.”

Cuomo also was asked Tuesday about the decision by top aides in his office not to count out-of-facility deaths of nursing home residents in their data for those facilities — a decision which had initially lowered the number of deaths by the thousands.

That decision came around the time that Cuomo was in the initial stages of writing a book about his administration’s handling of the pandemic.

Gareth Rhodes, who left Cuomo’s administration in July 2021, testified in May before the subcommittee that former Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa had tasked him with reviewing the Department of Health’s data to determine whether the number of nursing home deaths attributed to COVID-19 were being overcounted, including out-of-facility deaths.

“I think I flagged maybe 600 or so entries that had some sort of thing that could be considered inconsistent,” Rhodes said of that weeklong review.

He also told the subcommittee that he was rebuffed by Cuomo’s office when he recommended the out-of-facility deaths be included in the numbers, but with a footnote that several hundred were in question.

“I was not going to release inaccurate information,” Cuomo told the subcommittee Tuesday when asked about that decision.

https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti ... pamroundup