One day after being sworn in as New York's new governor on Tuesday, Kathy Hochul threw her disgraced predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, under the bus - announcing nearly 12,000 more deaths across the state from Covid-19 than previously admitted.
Now, instead of 43,400 deaths, New York now recognizes 55,400 as the number of people who have died of Covid-19 in the state based on death certificates submitted to the CDC.
Cuomo notoriously ordered his aides to conceal nursing home deaths, which state Attorney General Letitia James found were undercounted by as much as 50%, according to a January report.
"We're now releasing more data than had been released before publicly, so people know the nursing home deaths and the hospital deaths are consistent with what's being displayed by the CDC," Hochul said Wednesday on MSNBC, adding "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."
The Associated Press first reported in July on the large discrepancy between the fatality numbers publicized by the Cuomo administration and numbers the state was reporting to the CCD.
The count used by Cuomo in his news media briefings only included laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 deaths reported through a state system that collects data from hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities. That meant the tally excluded people who died at home, in hospice, in state prisons or at state-run homes for people living with disabilities. It also excluded people who likely died of COVID-19 but never got a positive test to confirm the diagnosis. -CBS News
"There are presumed and confirmed deaths. People should know both," said Hochul on Wednesday morning. "Also, as of yesterday, we're using CDC numbers, which will be consistent. And so there's no opportunity for us to mask those numbers, nor do I want to mask those numbers. The public deserves a clear, honest picture of what's happening. And that's whether it's good or bad, they need to know the truth. And that's how we restore confidence."
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