Top advisers to Andrew Cuomo, the governor of the US state of New York, have successfully pushed local health authorities to report under-reported corona deaths among nursing home residents.
A public report reported fewer deaths among these residents than had been officially established, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times wrote.
A July report examined several causes of the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes. However, the report only focused on residents who died in a nursing home. Residents who died in hospital after becoming ill in their nursing home were not counted.
Thus, the report reported 6,432 corona deaths among nursing home residents. In reality, more than 9,000 people would have died from Covid-19 by June, but Cuomo’s advisers did not want to disclose that number.
Interviews and documents in the hands of the New York Times would show that the advisers rewrote the report to remove the actual figures. According to the newspaper, data from the Ministry of Health shows that the exact number of deaths in nursing homes is even about 50 percent higher.
Cuomo is already under fire in the United States after being accused of undesirable behaviour by several women. On Monday, Cuomo said in a statement on the allegations that he “sincerely regrets” if his behaviour was ever “misunderstood as unwanted flirtation.” A law firm will investigate the allegations against the governor.