Governor Kathy Hochul says she’s putting together a team of independent experts to look into the state’s nursing home policies during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state, when thousands of elderly residents died.
Hochul, saying the “people of the state deserve to know”, says she is launching an independent analysis of every aspect of the decision making process during the pandemic to find out what worked and what did not.
“The good, the bad, the ugly,” said Hochul, who added that the examination will also include the effectiveness of mask mandates and economic shut downs, and remote learning.
A report by the State Attorney General, Tish James, found that Hochul’s’ predecessor, former Governor Andrew Cuomo and his administration undercounted by 50% the number of deaths in the homes during the height of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. At the time, Cuomo was writing a $5 million memoir about his leadership abilities during COVID. The controversy, and a sexual harassment scandal, led to Cuomo’s resignation last August. Cuomo denies all of the allegations.
Senator Jim Tedisco, along with Assemblyman Ron Kim is the sponsor of a bipartisan bill that would authorize an investigation of nursing home policy, with subpoena power. Tedisco, in a statement, says he hopes Hochul’s examination will not be a “whitewash” of what he says was Cuomo’s cover up of the real number of nursing home deaths.
The governor says she’ll be releasing more details about the investigation soon.
