NEW YORK (AP) — The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times report that the true number of people who had died in nursing homes in New York was altered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aides in a state Health Department report in July. The newspapers cited documents and anonymous sources in reporting that the aides pushed state health officials to alter the public report so that only residents who died inside long-term care facilities, and not those who became ill there and later died at a hospital, were counted. The report was released as the Democratic governor’s administration faced criticism over its March 25 directive that sent thousands of recovering coronavirus patients into nursing homes.
Photo: FILE – In this Jan. 18, 2017, file photo, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, accompanied by Melissa DeRosa, walks to talk with reporters after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York. Top aides to Cuomo altered a state Health Department report to obscure the true number of people killed by COVID-19 in the state’s nursing homes, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported late Thursday, March 4, 2021. The aides, including DeRosa, pushed state health officials to edit the July report so only residents who died inside long-term care facilities, and not those who became ill there and later died at a hospital, were counted, the newspapers reported. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
