Drudge Report targets New York Gov. Cuomo amid nursing home cover-up allegations
Cuomo's top aide told lawmakers the data was delayed because officials worried the information was "going to be used against us."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Drudge Report called out New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday over his administration’s alleged cover-up of the death count in the state’s nursing homes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On Saturday, the most conservative-leaning aggregation website shared links to coverage from The Daily Mail and The Associated Press on the nursing home data controversy.
FILE: Jan. 23, 2021 file photo, Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters during a news conference at a COVID-19 pop-up vaccination site in the William Reid Apartments in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP)
The scandal broke earlier this week, after the governor’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, told Democratic lawmakers the data was delayed because officials worried that the information was "going to be used against us" by the Trump administration's Department of Justice.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The new salvos from Republicans and Cuomo's fellow Democrats mark a stark turnaround from early days of the pandemic, when Cuomo's daily briefings helped cement a national reputation for leadership. The briefings, in which he promised to deliver "just the facts," won him an International Emmy and helped lead to his book, "American Crisis."
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The Cuomo administration for months dramatically underreported the statewide number of COVID-19 deaths among long-term care residents. It is now nearly 15,000, up from the 8,500 previously disclosed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The new toll amounts to about one-seventh of the roughly 90,000 people living in nursing homes as of 2019 in New York, which has among the most care home residents in the nation.
Cuomo has pointed to a small but growing body of research suggesting unchecked community spread is the biggest factor in nursing home outbreaks, and he has said inadequate federal government help with travel restrictions, testing and protective gear left New York City and its suburbs particularly vulnerable.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He has dismissed criticism as political and noted that the thousands of nursing home residents' deaths in hospitals were always counted in the state's overall tally.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.