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Governor Cuomo\u2019s top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state\u2019s nursing-home death toll<\/a> from COVID-19 \u2014 telling them \u201cwe froze\u201d out of fear the true numbers would \u201cbe used against us\u201d by federal prosecutors<\/a>, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n The stunning admission of a cover-up was made by Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa during a video conference call with state Democratic leaders in which she said the Cuomo administration had rebuffed a legislative request<\/a> for the tally in August because \u201cright around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football,\u201d according to an audio recording of the two-hour-plus meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cHe starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes,\u201d DeRosa said. \u201cHe starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to attacking Cuomo\u2019s fellow Democratic governors, DeRosa said, Trump \u201cdirects the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd basically, we froze,\u201d she told the lawmakers on the call.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause then we were in a position where we weren\u2019t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren\u2019t sure if there was going to be an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n DeRosa added: \u201cThat played a very large role into this.\u201d<\/p>\n After dropping the bombshell, DeRosa asked for \u201ca little bit of appreciation of the context\u201d and offered what appears to be the Cuomo administration\u2019s first apology for its handling of nursing homes amid the pandemic.<\/p>\n But instead of a mea culpa to the grieving family members of more than 13,000 dead seniors or the critics who say the Health Department spread COVID-19 in the care facilities with a March 25 state Health Department directive that nursing homes admit infected patients, DeRosa tried to make amends with the fellow Democrats for the political inconvenience it caused them.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we do apologize,\u201d she said. \u201cI do understand the position that you were put in. I know that it is not fair. It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) immediately rejected DeRosa\u2019s expression of remorse, according to the recording.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have enough time today to explain all the reasons why I don\u2019t give that any credit at all,\u201d said Gottfried, one of the lawmakers who demanded the death-toll data in August.<\/p>\n State Senate Aging Committee Chairwoman Rachel May (D-Syracuse) \u2014 who was battered during her re-election bid last year over the issue of nursing-home deaths \u2014 also ripped into DeRosa, saying her former opponent had launched another broadside earlier in the day.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the issue for me, the biggest issue of all is feeling like I needed to defend \u2014 or at least not attack \u2014 an administration that was appearing to be covering something up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd in a, in a pandemic, when you want the public to trust the public-health officials, and there is this clear feeling that they\u2019re not coming, being forthcoming with you, that is really hard and it remains difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), who took part in the call, told The Post on Thursday that DeRosa\u2019s remarks sounded \u201clike they admitted that they were trying to dodge having any incriminating evidence that might put the administration or the [Health Department] in further trouble with the Department of Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how I understand their reasoning of why they were unable to share, in real time, the data,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had to first make sure that the state was protected against federal investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Kim, whose uncle is presumed to have died of COVID-19 in a nursing home in April, also said he wasn\u2019t satisfied with DeRosa\u2019s apology.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not enough how contrite they are with us,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need to show that to the public and the families \u2014 and they haven\u2019t done that.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to stonewalling lawmakers on the the total number of nursing home residents killed by COVID-19, Cuomo\u2019s administration also refused requests from the news media \u2014 including The Post \u2014 and fought a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the Empire Center on Public Policy.<\/p>\n Instead, it only disclosed data on the numbers of residents who died in their nursing homes.<\/p>\n But after Attorney General Letitia James last month released a damning report that estimated the deaths of nursing-home residents in hospitals would boost the grim tally by more than 50 percent, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker finally released figures<\/a> showing the combined total was 12,743 as of Jan. 19.<\/p>\n Just a day earlier, the DOH was only publicly acknowledging 8,711 deaths in nursing homes.<\/p>\n In a Wednesday letter to lawmakers, Zucker said the total number of nursing home residents killed by COVID-19 had increased to 13,297 That number jumps to 15,049 when assisted living\/adult care facilities are factored in.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 deaths in NY nursing homes were 50 percent higher than claimed: probe<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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