N.Y. Governor Not Revealing Coronavirus Death Toll in Nursing Homes Amid Reported Undercounting

New York's coronavirus death toll may be significantly undercounted among the state's nursing home residents while Governor Andrew Cuomo has refused to reveal the actual number of dead, according to a new report.

Nursing home health administrator Emil Fuzayov of the Riverdale Nursing Home in the Bronx told the Associated Press a "cascading effect" of deaths at his facility has been significantly undercounted by state health officials. According to the AP, the 146-bed nursing home recorded just four deaths when 21 actually occurred—but most of those residents had been transported to area hospitals before succumbing to COVID-19.

The state's official care-home death toll of just over 6,600 may likely not have counted thousands of additional deaths statewide, the AP report said, and the governor's office is brushing off all doubt about the numbers as politically motivated rhetoric. Unlike other states that have experienced a large number of deaths from the virus, New York state counts only residents who died on nursing home property and not people who were taken to the hospital before dying.

"That's a problem, bro," Democratic state Senator Gustavo Rivera told New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker during a hearing on nursing home issues last week, according to the AP. "It seems, sir, that in this case you are choosing to define it differently so that you can look better."

Newsweek reached out to Cuomo's Albany office for further comment but did not hear back in time for publication.

From early June to mid-July, New York state undercounted its nursing home death toll by about 65 percent, the AP said, citing federal data. That could mean thousands of deceased residents may not have been counted to this day. One major statistic cited by state health department surveys shows 21,000 nursing home beds are now empty this year, about 13,000 more than expected.

Cuomo, who was widely praised for his daily press briefings and calm response to the state's virus outbreak during its peak in the spring, has repeatedly dismissed accusations about the state suppressing nursing home deaths, calling them politically motivated. The governor was also one of the most outspoken critics of President Donald Trump and the federal government in the first few months of the nation's outbreak.

"Look at the basic facts where New York is versus other states," Cuomo said during a briefing Monday. "You look at where New York is as a percentage of nursing home deaths, it's all the way at the bottom of the list."

In a briefing last month, the governor said, "Go talk to 34 other states first. Go talk to the Republican states now—Florida, Texas, Arizona—ask them what is happening in nursing homes. It's all politics."

Statewide, New York has recorded more than 32,000 deaths among more than 450,000 total coronavirus cases since March.

Among 43 states that have released nursing home data related to the outbreak, 44 percent of overall COVID-19 deaths were among nursing home residents, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. If that number is true for New York, that would mean the state has had more than 11,000 nursing home deaths, versus the just over 6,600 currently identified, the AP report said.

"Whatever the cause, there is no way New York could be truly at 20 percent," said Boston University geriatrics expert Thomas Perls told the AP.