Audit: State misled the public about COVID-19 nursing home deaths

ALBANY — An audit by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found Tuesday that the state Health Department misled the public by undercounting deaths of nursing home residents by as many as 4,100 during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

The audit said the health department under then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo at times undercounted deaths of nursing home residents from the virus by more than 50%.

"Our audit findings are extremely troubling," DiNapoli said. "The public was misled by those at the highest level of state government through distortion and suppression of the facts when New Yorkers deserved the truth."

Auditors said Cuomo "routinely reported incorrect data, inflating the perception of New York’s performance against other states." At the time, Cuomo was drawing national attention for his work during the pandemic and also was writing a memoir, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19," under a $5 million book deal.

"This apparent willingness to mislead the public is suggestive of the significant communication and control environment deficiencies that were ongoing at the department throughout the COVID-19 pandemic," the audit stated.

DiNapoli’s findings are similar to those reported by state Attorney General Letitia James in January 2021.

"This audit affirms many of the findings that we uncovered last year about the state’s response to COVID, most notably (the Department of Health) and the former governor undercounted the number of deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%," James said. "I am grateful to Comptroller DiNapoli for bringing much needed transparency to this critical issue."

Cuomo resigned in August amid allegations that he sexually harassed multiple women, accusations that he denies. The allegations about the nursing homes deaths were part of the investigation by the State Assembly which could have led to Cuomo’s impeachment if he had not resigned.

Cuomo has said it was difficult to determine all the deaths because some nursing home residents died in hospitals or at home. Soon after James’ report in January, Cuomo included a larger number of deaths of nursing home residents in his daily COVID-19 briefings.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi on Tuesday defended the former governor’s handling of the deaths of nursing home residents. "As the number of out-of-facility deaths were reported last January, this is not news," said Azzopardi, who has repeatedly said Cuomo has the victim of a partisan witch hunt.

During the pandemic, families of residents and politicians from both parties accused him of misleading them on the number of fatalities.

"This is criminal public fraud that led to unnecessary deaths," said Assemb. Ron Kim (D-Queens), one of the leading critics of Cuomo on the issue, referring to DiNapoli's audit.

DiNapoli’s audit also found:

• The health department under Cuomo didn’t provide accurate death counts of residents of nursing homes "and became entangled in the undercounting of those deaths as the Executive took control of information provided to the public."
• The department still can’t provide a full list of residents who died "and the actual number of nursing home residents who died is still uncertain."
• The health department "imposed impediments" to the comptroller’s audit, including not addressing questions, not providing documents or key personnel for questioning.
• The state was "slow to respond" to a federal directive to survey nursing homes for problems in controlling infections.
• The department experienced "a persistent lack of funding" and was unprepared for an emergency such as the pandemic after 10 years of the Cuomo administration.
• New York "significantly trailed" other states in protecting nursing home residents according to key indicators.

Several health department leaders quit during Cuomo’s control of the pandemic and more have left since Gov Kathy Hochul succeeded Cuomo in August.

DiNapoli, whose job includes auditing state agencies, said the problems found in Tuesday’s report stem from long-standing concerns, including inadequate oversight and low standards for compliance by the health department in monitoring nursing homes,

The concerns included "key informational systems" at the department regarding infections, which were reported in previous audits, but the department "never followed through on the corrective actions, which may have limited its ability to respond to the COVID-19 nursing home crisis."

With Yancey Roy.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.