The story keeps getting worse for Andrew Cuomo on Covid-19

[Mirage]

Amid the swirling controversy over whether New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration knowingly undercounted deaths among nursing home residents during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, a top aide for the governor apologized to Democratic lawmakers, saying the administration "froze" when initially asked by state legislators back in August about the issue.

Which is a stunning admission. And seems to jibe with a report released last month by New York Attorney General Letitia James that suggested that Cuomo's administration undercounted deaths among nursing home residents by as much as 50%.

"Preliminary data obtained by [the Office of the Attorney general] suggests that many nursing home residents died from Covid-19 in hospitals after being transferred from their nursing homes, which is not reflected in [the Department of Heath's] published total nursing home death data," read the summary of the report.

 

The aide, Melissa DeRosa, sought to clarify her remarks. "I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily set aside the Legislature's request to deal with the federal request first," she said in a statement provided to CNN. "We informed the houses of this at the time. We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, and then had to immediately focus our resources on the second wave and vaccine rollout. As I said on a call with legislators, we could not fulfill their request as quickly as anyone would have liked."

[Mirage]

Gov. Cuomo facing impeachment calls over alleged Covid-19 cover-up

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing calls for an investigation and even impeachment after a top aide said the administration delayed the release of data on Covid-19 deaths of long-term care facility residents because of concerns about a potential federal investigation.