January 29, 2021

Anna Murray 

The newly published 76-page report revealed an undercount of more than 50% death tolls in New York nursing homes. The State Attorney General Letitia James charged on January 28 that the state administration had undercounted COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents by thousands. The report seemingly challenged Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's numerous claims that New York has been doing better than other states in dealing with the coronavirus.

Attorney General James indicated 12,743 nursing home residents died of the coronavirus as of January 19 which showed much higher than the state administration's tally of 8,505.

Hours later, New York State Department of Health updated its official record that added more than 3,800 coronavirus-related deaths to its tally of nursing home residents. The officials clarified an explanation in these additional deaths representing nursing home residents who had died in hospitals and had not previously been listed as nursing home deaths.

New York’s genuine coronavirus death toll in nursing homes, which has been already among the highest in the US, has been poorly undercounted. It seems to undermine Governor Cuomo's national image being a pandemic hero.

Photo:Webshot.