On January 28, 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James published a report into nursing homes' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report alleged that a larger number of nursing home residents had died of COVID-19 than reported by the New York State Department of Health (DOH). According to the report:
"preliminary data . . . suggests that COVID-19 resident deaths associated with nursing homes in New York state appear to be undercounted by DOH by approximately 50 percent."
A senior aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Melissa DeRosa, subsequently appeared to admit that the DOH data was wrong. On February 17, 2021, the New York Times reported that Ms. DeRosa was recorded telling state legislators "the administration had purposely withheld the data in the face of an investigation by the Trump Justice Department that is feared would be politicized." Governor Cuomo subsequently confirmed there had been a "delay" in disclosing the data and said "[w]e made a mistake . . . We should have provided more information faster."
Update:
A bill requiring the New York State Department of Health to include nursing home residents who die in hospitals in the total number of nursing home deaths (Senate Bill 3061A) was introduced in the New York State Senate on January 27, 2021.
The bill passed the state Senate on February 22, 2021, and was sent to the state Assembly.