Justice Department Asks Cuomo For Data On NY Nursing Home Deaths

NEW YORK, NY — The U.S. Justice Department has asked for coronavirus data from New York and three other states where governors issued orders that federal authorities said could have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents.

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan required nursing homes to admit patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, to their vulnerable populations, often without adequate testing, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on March 25 ordered that no resident be denied re-admission or admission to a nursing home "solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19." Nursing homes were also not allowed to require hospitalized residents deemed "medically stable" to be tested for the disease before being admitted or re-admitted.

The Department of Health has confirmed that 25,305 New Yorkers died of the disease as of Tuesday, though the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates New York has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the country at 32,592.

As of Monday, state health officials confirmed there were a combined 6,453 people in nursing homes confirmed or presumed to have died from the disease. The number of people who died of the disease in adult care facilities was 176.

Cuomo has faced questions from reporters in recent months over whether his policy contributed to nursing home deaths. In response to July questions over whether he would support having an independent audit into nursing home deaths, Cuomo called the idea "all politically motivated."

"I think if anybody looked at the facts they would know it's wholly absurd on its face," he said at the time, noting that New York ranked 35th in the nation in share of deaths in nursing homes.

In a joint statement with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday, Cuomo said the request was "nothing more than a transparent politicization" by the Justice Department during the Republican National Convention.

"It's no coincidence the moment the Trump administration is caught weakening the CDC's COVID-19 testing guidelines to artificially lower the number of positive cases, they launched this nakedly partisan deflection," the governors said. "At least 14 states - including Kentucky, Utah and Arizona - have issued similar nursing guidance all based on federal guidelines - and yet the four states listed in the DOJ's request have a Democratic governor. DOJ should send a letter to CMS and CDC since the State's advisories were modeled after their guidance."

In a letter Wednesday to Cuomo, Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division, said the unit is evaluating whether state orders requiring admission of COVID-19 patients to nursing homes led to the deaths of residents.

“Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations,” Dreiband said in a news release. "We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk."

Federal authorities asked Cuomo to provide documents from each individual public nursing home on:

• Number of public nursing home residents, employees, other staff, guests and visitors who contracted COVID-19, regardless of where they contracted the disease.
• Number of public nursing home residents, employees, other staff, guests and visitors who died of COVID-19 including those who died in a public nursing home or after being moved to a hospital or other medical facility, hospice, home care or any other location.
• All state-issued guidance, directives, advisories or executive orders regarding admission of persons to public nursing homes, including those previously superseded, as well as the dates each such document was in effect.
• Number of people who were admitted to a public nursing home from a hospital or any other facility, hospice, home care or other location after testing positive for COVID-19 during the period the guidance or orders were in effect.

"We request the above information within 14 days," Dreiband said.

The attorney general in March announced the Justice Department’s national nursing home effort. The department is investigating a Massachusetts nursing home for veterans where at least 76 residents died of COVID-19.