NY Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 25, 2021   |   11:30AM   |   Albany, New York

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing homes that sealed the deaths of perhaps as many as 15,000 seniors.

But it’s even worse.

Cuomo’s lieutenant governor, who became governor this week after Cuomo’s resignation in disgrace, has just admitted that the numbers are event higher. According to NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, 12,000 more people, potentially including seniors at nursing homes, died from COVID than New York has reported.

The massive coverup means over 55,000 people in the Democrat-run state died from COVID.

“New York now reports nearly 55,400 people have died of COVID-19 in New York based on death certificate data submitted to the CDC, up from about 43,400 that Gov. Cuomo had reported to the public as of Monday, his last day in office,” according to an AP report.

“We’re now releasing more data than had been released before publicly, so people know the nursing home deaths and the hospital deaths are consistent with what’s being displayed by the CDC,” Hochul said Wednesday on MSNBC. “There’s a lot of things that weren’t happening and I’m going to make them happen. Transparency will be the hallmark of my administration.”

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The Associated Press first reported in July on the large discrepancy between the fatality numbers publicized by the Cuomo administration and numbers the state was reporting to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The count used by Cuomo in his news media briefings only included laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 deaths reported through a state system that collects data from hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities. That meant the tally excluded people who died at home, hospice, in state prisons or at state-run homes for people living with disabilities. It also excluded people who likely died of COVID-19 but never got a positive test to confirm the diagnosis.

That lower number favored by the Cuomo administration still appeared in the daily update put out by Hochul’s office Tuesday, but with an explanation about why it was an incomplete count.

“There are presumed and confirmed deaths. People should know both,” Hochul said in a Wednesday morning appearance on NPR. “Also, as of yesterday, we’re using CDC numbers, which will be consistent. And so there’s no opportunity for us to mask those numbers, nor do I want to mask those numbers. 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.”

Cuomo’s critics had long charged that he was manipulating coronavirus statics to burnish his image as a pandemic leader.

But the question is why the data was never released when Hochul was Lt. Governor. She was part of the Cuomo administration as his number two and she could easily have blown the lid off the coverup before becoming governor. And that’s something that New York residents are asking.

In March, an explosive New York Times report exposed how several of Cuomo’s top aides helped to hide approximately 9,000 people’s deaths to COVID in nursing homes last year. At the same time, the Democrat governor was receiving massive media praise for his handling of the pandemic and getting ready to profit from his new book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Originally, New York reported 8,110 deaths at nursing homes due to the coronavirus. However, the state tally only included people who died at a facility. Nursing home residents who were transferred to hospitals and died there were not included in the total.  According to the attorney general’s report in January, the actual total was 12,743.

Cuomo resigned after months of scandals involving sexual harassment allegations and the cover-up of COVID-19 nursing home deaths linked to his pandemic response.

Cuomo first began facing criticism in early 2020 after he issued an executive order requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients. That order since has been linked to more than 15,000 deaths in nursing homes during the pandemic.

In January, New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Cuomo and his administration of covering up the deaths of thousands of nursing home patients related to that order. Then, this summer, her office accused the governor of sexually molesting several women.

On social media, many people rejoiced at the news of Cuomo’s resignation, including Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean whose parents died in nursing homes in New York.

“I’ve always said I don’t care what brings him down. He’s a monster and deserves to go in shame. But also, please don’t forget our loved ones that are no longer with us to testify,” Dean said, previously.