New York COVID-19 nursing home scandal

Members of the New York Army National Guard visit a nursing home resident in December 2020
Governor Andrew Cuomo and his staff were in the spotlight after their alleged cover-up of nursing home deaths.[1]

In January 2021, Attorney General of New York Letitia James released a report finding that Governor Andrew Cuomo had understated the toll of COVID-19-related deaths in state nursing homes by as much as 83 percent.[2] The scandal was made public on February 11, 2021, when the New York Post reported that Melissa DeRosa, a secretary and aide to Cuomo, privately apologized to lawmakers for the administration withholding the nursing-home death toll in fear then-President Donald Trump would "turn this into a giant political football".[2]

The nature of the scandal is widely known as an "alleged cover up".[1] U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme of the Eastern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have launched an investigation into New York state's handling of nursing home deaths.[3]

  1. ^ a b Sources that characterize to the scandal as an alleged cover up:
    • Payne, Daniel (February 18, 2021). "New York assemblymember: Cuomo 'berated me,' asked me to lie about alleged cover-up". Politico. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
    • McKinley, Jesse; Ferré-Sadurní, Luis (February 12, 2021). "New Allegations of Cover-Up by Cuomo Over Nursing Home Virus Toll". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
    • Associated Press (February 15, 2021). "Andrew Cuomo insists New York didn't cover up nursing home Covid-19 deaths". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
    • Walker, James (February 15, 2021). "Republicans Round on Andrew Cuomo over Alleged Nursing Home COVID Cover-up". Newsweek. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
    • DeWitt, Karen; Abbott, Ellen (February 15, 2021). "Possible Cover-Up Of Nursing Home Deaths Provokes Calls For Probes Of Cuomo, Aides". WSKG-TV. PBS. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Andrew Cuomo faces a reckoning for a pandemic-related cover-up". The Economist. February 20, 2021. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference times union 20210217 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).