Cuomo On Nursing Home Controversy: 'Nothing To Investigate'

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke out publicly Monday for the first time on renewed political furor over whether the state covered up nursing home deaths.

Last week, news broke that Melissa DeRosa told Democratic lawmakers during a video call that the state denied a legislative request for coronavirus-related nursing home death numbers amid fears the Trump administration would use them as a "giant political football," according to a story first reported in the New York Post.

DeRosa said "basically, we froze" in releasing nursing home deaths as Trump's Department of Justice requested information, the Post report states.

Cuomo began on Monday by discussing the issue of emergency cornavirus powers; some lawmakers have cried out that the governor should have those taken away. The New York State Legislature, he said, can reverse any action he takes.

"These are public health decisions, not local political decisions...These decisions should not be politicized," he said.

Cuomo set out to describe the chain of events. First, in August, the United States Department of Justic sent a letter to Democratic governors, asking for information on public nursing homes in New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Cuomo said. The New York State Legislature also sent a letter asking for information on nursing homes, he said.

"We paused the state legislature request while we finished the DOJ request," he said. "We told both houses — the Assembly and the Senate," he said, adding that the state gave the DOJ request precedence.

While the August request was "replied to fully," Cuomo said the New York State Department of Health received a DOJ letter signed by Jeffrey Clark in October, which he said the state learned about from New York Post, which was centered on private nursing homes; the state has been voluntarily providing that data, he said.

Cuomo then said nursing homes nationwide have 36 percent of all COVID deaths, with New York #34 nationwide and also one of only nine states that counts "presumed fatalities" in nursing homes.

The governor then discussed what he called "much distortion" around a March 25 memo. Cuomo said on March 13, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and on March 23, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, put out guidance regarding sending people with COVID back into nursing homes. New York State, along with 12 other states, followed that guidance, which was based on reasoning including that those residents were not contagious; seniors should not remain in hospitals longer than necessary; and patients were sent back to nursing homes only if those nursing homes could provide proper care, by law, Cuomo said.

At the time, hospital capacity was a chief concern, he added.

Cuomo also said of 613 nursing homes in New York State, 365 received a person from a hospital; 98 percent of those facilities already had reports of COVID, he said, adding that nursing home resident deaths has been the same before and after the March 25 memo.

All deaths in nursing homes were fully, publicly, and accurately reported, Cuomo said.

He said he "takes responsibility" for a delay in providing the press and the public additional information, which he said created a "void" that led to "skepticism, cynicism and conspiracy theories."

More important, he said, it led to "disinformation and anxiety" for families that had lost loved ones.

Looking ahead, Cuomo said there will be a focus on for-profit nursing homes, where, because they "are trying to make money, it is too easy to sacrifice patient care. The tension is a problem and it has to be resolved legislatively." Cuomo proposed reforms for private nursing homes in the 30-day amended budget; he said he would like to see it mandated how much money a private facility puts back and how much profit it can garner.

Looking back at the nursing home situation, Cuomo said if he had to do it again, he would prioritize dissemination of information more quickly to the public and the press.

"The truth is everyone did everything they could," he said, adding, "Covid attacks seniors. People still die in nursing homes today."

94 percent of people who have died are elderly with underlying conditions, he said.

Not providing information created the void, he said. "Now people are left with the thought of, 'Did my loved one have to die?' And that is a brutal question. I want everyone to know everything was done by the best minds in the best interest. The last thing I wanted to do was to aggravate a terrible situation."

Describing the loss of his own father years ago, he said there are no good answers when you lose a loved one, and the questions of what could have been done differently linger years later.

State employees focused on the DOJ request, he said, were dealing with the pandemic, and the "crisis of the moment. . ." He said while understands the void that lack of information created, he understands the pressure staff was under. "It's not like people were in the south of France," he said. "Our number one priority was saving people's lives."

Cuomo then said to threaten a subpoena or threat of an investigation for leverage. "That's a crime," he said.

When asked if he thought an investigation would "clear the air," Cuomo said. "I don't think there is anything to clear. . .There is nothing to investigate."

He added: "I take responsibility for creating the void that allowed the misinformation. But I'm not concerned about politics. I want to make sure people know these are the facts. Everything that could have been done, was done."

When asked if there was anything he would apologize for, Cuomo said: "I have said repeatedly we made a mistake in creating the void. We were in the middle of hell, but no excuses. . . We should have done a better job of providing information and knocking down disinformation. I accept responsibility for that."