Strip Cuomo's Emergency Powers After 'Bombshell' Report: Lawmaker

NORTH FORK, NY — New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo, who was recently elected to fill the seat of longtime incumbent Ken LaValle in New York Senate District 1, has joined a contingent of Republican lawmakers calling for action after a "bombshell" report by Attorney General Letitia James’ indicated that New York State underreported COVID nursing home deaths by 50 percent.

On Friday, Palumbo, a Republican lawmaker from New Suffolk, called for the resignation of New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker. Palumbo also demanded the legislature strip Governor Andrew Cuomo of his emergency powers.

“New Yorkers put an immeasurable amount of trust in state government to address the COVID pandemic and to protect the health and safety of residents," Palumbo said. This week, that trust was shattered. The AG’s report highlights the need for what my colleagues and I have long been calling for — the return of legislative oversight in Albany.”

At his press briefing Friday, Cuomo spoke about the report, which also said nursing homes were understaffed with a lack of sufficient personal protective equipment.

On Thursday, New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker provided new data and also fired back a response, stating that the health department has always publicly reported the number of COVID-19 fatalities in hospitals irrespective of the residence of the patient, and separately reported the number of fatalities within nursing home facilities — and has been clear about it.

"The word 'undercount' implies there are more total fatalities than have been reported; this is factually wrong," he said in a statement. "In fact, the OAG report itself repudiates the suggestion that there was any "undercount" of the total death number."

The AG's report acknowledges in a footnote on page 71 that DOH was always clear that the data on its website pertains to in-facility deaths only, not residents' deaths outside of their nursing homes.

Zucker said Friday that the state had always been transparent about the number of nursing home deaths in facilities. The state was compiling data on hospital deaths and had planning to release the information but after the AG's report, "we decided that we needed to finish that up quickly and get the number up in real time," he said. However, he emphasized, "The total number of deaths does not change."

The statement that the deaths were underreported is "factually inaccurate," Cuomo said.
In fact, Cuomo added, the AG's report confirmed what state officials have long maintained: New York State was following federal guidance, and nursing homes were "not forced to take anyone," he said.

Nursing homes that took recovering COVID-19 patients who had no symptoms — patients they were not able to adequately care for — were in violation of the law, another point the report confirms, he said.

When asked about the number of individuals transferred from the hospital back to nursing homes, state officials said the number is reliant upon the reporting of individual nursing homes and often incorrect.

"Everyone did the best they could," Cuomo said. "It's not about pointing fingers or blame. This became a political football. Whether someone died in the hospital or in a nursing home, people died."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the New York State Department of Health, "gave the best guidance they had," Cuomo said. "That didn't mean people didn't die, that they won't die today, and that they won't die tomorrow. That is the curse of COVID."