Nursing home fallout for Cuomo: Angry, brutal, bipartisan

ALBANY — A report about the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing homes represents the most serious political fallout for the New York governor since the pandemic began.

This time, unlike other brushfires during Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s 10-plus years in office, the condemnations were brutal, angry and bipartisan. And it’s a controversy that likely won’t die down in a day or two but could hover over the State Capitol for some time because of pending legislative hearings.

"Damning," "unconscionable," "unacceptable" and "gravely worrisome" were just some of the words fellow Democrats used to describe a report by Attorney General Letitia James, which found Cuomo’s Health Department may have underreported COVID-19 nursing home deaths by as much as 50%.

The death count wasn’t all. The report also said a decision to grant blanket immunity to health care facilities early on in the pandemic might have led some to make "financially motivated" decisions rather than safety-based. Also, it said a Cuomo directive to nursing homes to admit coronavirus patients "may have put residents at increased risk of harm."

State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx), one of the leading voices of a new wave of progressives in Albany, put the blame squarely on Cuomo, saying the report "reveals a profound failure of executive leadership."

In response, Dr. Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, issued a statement late Thursday afternoon contending the administration always had been clear in how it counted COVID-19 deaths, listing them in what facility they occurred. Hence, Zucker said, there was no "undercount" in total fatalities — just a difference in how the Health Department and the attorney general allocated the deaths.

But the controversy has followed the administration for months with lawmakers and families of nursing-home patients claiming the Cuomo administration tallied the numbers differently to downplay the nursing home number.

Democrats raised the prospect of subpoenaing the Health Department, saying it had been stonewalling the release of nursing home data.

"This is shocking and unconscionable but not surprising," said Assemb. Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), chairman of the Assembly Health Committee. "The Health Department refuses to release the number of nursing home patients who came down with COVID-19, were transferred to hospitals, and died there, despite six months of repeated requests by the public, press, and legislators. I and others have long believed that it was drastically undercounting nursing home deaths."

"The findings, while disturbing, are unsurprising — they validate what many of us already suspected and validate what my investigative team and I have been piecing together since our legislative hearings in 2020," State Sen. James Skoufis (D-Cornwall), chairman of the Senate Investigations Committee, said.

From Washington, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand weighed in.

"Well, obviously the report is deeply disturbing and gravely worrisome," the Democrat said, adding she’d ask the U.S. Senate Aging Committee to investigate.

Republicans were harsher.

They accused the Cuomo administration of deliberately misleading the public about the volume of nursing home deaths, calling it a "deep betrayal" of the public. They called for hearings, investigations and the immediate resignation of Zucker.

"By underreporting COVID deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%, the Department of Health has betrayed the public trust. To repair that broken trust, I am calling on Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to resign," State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt (R-North Tonawanda) said.

Ortt, in a conference call with reporters, said the James report would resonate across New York State because "the families whose loved ones died are not just Republicans, not just Democrats. They are of all political stripes."

Another Republican noted that Cuomo wrote a book last year about his leadership style during the pandemic.

"Our governor actually wrote a book about leadership in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as we learned today, and as many suspected, he never told the whole story," Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Pulaski) said.

Doug Muzzio, a political scientist at Baruch College and longtime New York political observer, said the James report will be "politically significant" even if the degree can’t be determined yet. But it’s not good news for a governor who has been elected three times, largely controlled all the legislation that flowed from Albany and enjoyed favorable public opinion during the pandemic.

"This is going to have legs," Muzzio said. "It’s a clear crack in Cuomo’s public image and I think his political effectiveness has got to be reduced."

That the criticism has come from Democrats and Republicans, state and federal officials, young and old is a potential "full-scale rebellion," he said, and a reflection of "folks who have been frustrated by the power and weight of Andrew Cuomo."