Washington Post's Philip Bump downplays New York's updated COVID death count following Cuomo's resignation

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New NY gov adds 12K COVID deaths to Cuomo admin's total

Fox News' Janice Dean says she's already discouraged by New York Governor Kathy Hochul's leadership after deciding to keep Health Department commissioner Howard Zucker on the payroll.

Washington Post national correspondent Philip Bump downplayed New York's jarring update to its data of coronavirus deaths.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was sworn into office on Tuesday following the resignation of her predecessor Andrew Cuomo, acknowledged on Wednesday that there were nearly 12,000 COVID deaths that were not counted by the Cuomo administration, going from 43,400 to 55,400, based on death certificates that were submitted to the CDC.

"The public deserves a clear, honest picture of what’s happening. And that’s whether it’s good or bad, they need to know the truth. And that’s how we restore confidence," Hochul vowed. 

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The news was widely shared by the Associated Press, which ran a breaking news alert and a story with the headline, "New NY governor adds 12,000 deaths to publicized COVID tally."

But Bump felt compelled to provide his own analysis in a piece titled, "No, there weren’t thousands of covid deaths in New York that no one reported."

(Getty Images/AP)

"In part because of Cuomo’s history of trying to hide the ball on coronavirus deaths, the AP’s announcement was quickly interpreted to mean that the number of deaths from the coronavirus in New York state was actually 12,000 higher than had been known, which would mean an increase in total deaths of 28 percent. This, however, is not the case," Bump wrote. "The Washington Post’s dashboard, for example, currently shows 53,929 deaths in New York state. The New York Times reports 53,662. The CDC’s total (broken out into the state and New York City) indicates 53,930 deaths."

NEW NY GOV. KATHY HOCHUL ADDS 12,000 DEATHS TO COVID DEATH COUNT 

"In other words, analyses of the effects of the pandemic on New York that used CDC data or numbers from media outlets were not compromised by the numbers reported by the state data released under Cuomo. There were not thousands of deaths that went unreported and which Hochul is now bringing to light... Instead, Cuomo was using a narrow definition of covid-related deaths (presumably to make his administration look better) that wasn’t the norm elsewhere," Bump added. 

The Post correspondent similarly opined on Twitter, which sparked a response from Fox News' senior meteorologist and anti-Cuomo warrior Janice Dean. 

"So no biggie then?" Dean sarcastically asked. 

Bump replied, "If the opposing position is ‘this is a huge deal and brings to light unreported deaths,’ then: yes."

Moments later, Bump deleted the tweet. 

Bump did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. 

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Dean had been outspoken on Cuomo's nursing home scandal ever since she lost her in-laws, both of who contracted COVID in nursing homes following the governor's controversial order requiring COVID-positive patients to be accepted in such facilities to prevent overwhelming hospitals. 

On Wednesday, Dean noted that her late mother-in-law was among the roughly 12,000 New Yorkers who were added to the state's COVID deaths since she died at a hospital after contracting the virus at a nursing home.

The Cuomo administration's coverup of the state's COVID deaths was reportedly tied to the governor's COVID memoir that touted his response to the pandemic.