After Andrew Cuomo resigned and left office, Gov. Kathy Hochul took over the leadership in New York and has vowed to oust any scandalous staffers or unethical practices. One of her first acts in office has been to uncover the ex-governor’s infamous nursing home scandal which led to more deaths than previously reported.
While vowing more government transparency, Gov. Kathy Hochul revealed that the nursing home death count for the state is 12,000 more than previously reported by the State of New York. The state now reports about 55,400 people who’ve died from COVID-19, compared to 43,400 that Gov. Cuomo had reported to the public even as of Monday, his very last day in office. Some things never change.
Gov. Hochul shared on MSNBC that they are releasing more data than publicly before so that people know the nursing home deaths and hospital deaths are consistent with the CDC. “There’s a lot of things that weren’t happening and I’m going to make them happen. Transparency will be the hallmark of my administration,” she said.
Gov. Hochul went on to say that she had gotten rid of all the staff members who have been named in the state attorney general’s sexual harassment probe. She reiterates that no one who did anything unethical in the report will remain in the administration and that no one will describe her office as a “toxic work environment.” She said she has surrounded herself with talented young women who will bring good services to the public and not have to worry about a workplace with harassment.
“Yes, so the individuals who were named in the report are no longer part of this administration, and they know I’m walking the walk. I’m just saying it’s over. None of this is going to be accepted,” Gov. Hochul said.
New York has continued to rank as one of the worst states in the nation in terms of deaths per 100,000 people, currently ranking second. The Cuomo administration not only hid data about the deadly executive orders they passed back in March 2020 but deleted and altered state documents to mislead the public. One of Cuomo’s top aides finally admitted in February that the entire cover-up was political.
Hochul said that they will be using CDC numbers, which will make it impossible to mask anything since the public deserves a clear and honest picture of what’s happening. She reiterates that the public needs to know the truth “whether it’s good or bad” and that it’s the only way to restore confidence.
Cuomo not only tarnished his reputation as a leader by manipulating COVID-19 statistics, but also through a stack of sexual harassment scandals, using taxpayer money and time to publish his pandemic leadership book, and even prioritizing his family’s testing needs over the citizens of New York.
Cuomo has made it clear for a while now that he is done with the state of New York. He even snapped at a reporter during one of his last press briefings for not wanting to discuss “Albany politics.” He won’t even acknowledge what he did or take responsibility for his actions. But hey, he has a $5.1 million advance for his book on leadership lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. The book where he maintains he did nothing wrong. That’s the Democrat way out.
