Cuomo has blood on his hands

State tourney returns to Glens Falls for first time in six years

The Front Page

Morning Update

Saturday, March 19, 2022

By Ken Tingley

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli came out with a disturbing 58-page report this week criticizing how the Department of Health reported nursing home deaths during the first year off the pandemic.

The headline was the Department of Health failed to report 4,100 deaths due to Covid-10.

And the bigger headline was that Gov. Andrew Cuomo forced them to do it for political reasons. That means Cuomo has blood on his hands and should be banished from ever holding public office again.

But it shouldn’t end there.

The audit determined the Department of Health “instead of providing accurate and reliable information during a public health emergency, the Department conformed its presentation to the Executive’s narrative, often presenting data in a manner that misled the public.”

The executive is former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who made a speech this week that made it seem like he might run for governor again.

The Comptroller’s office concluded that the Department of Heath had to clear its conclusions so it matched his political message. Instead of acknowledging a problem in nursing home and coming up with better practices to save likes, state officials covered it up.

That is unconscionable.

The report says the Department of Health was not “transparent” and wondered if its reporting was “deliberate.”

“In the face of its mission to advocate for the health and well-being of all New Yorkers, the Departments’ actions fell far shot. Particularly in uncertain times, the public’s trust and confidence e in their leaders is of paramount importance to overcome public health emergencies. The lack of transparency not only reduces confidence in the information being reported, but also erodes the public’s trust in the department.”

In the deadpan writing style of government audits, this is a scathing indictment of state officials. Unfortunately, it falls far short of naming names. Heads should roll the report should not be the end of this matter.

The report goes on to express its frustration that requests for information has “languished at times for months” and that department officials frequently would not answer questions posed during scheduled meetings. Instead they asked that the questions be submitted in writing and would be answered at a later time.

The department was not only failed ethically, but morally as well.

It was a coverup plain and simple.

This is exactly how state government has treated inquiries from reporters for years and if Gov. Hochul is serious about her commitment to transparency she needs to address these failings.

The report also found that there had been a persistent underinvestment in public health funds over the last decade and that’s the Department of Health’s oversight of nursing homes was lacking. It said the Department of Health rarely went beyond enforcing minimum standards.

The audit turned scathing again.

“The Department’s lack of commitment to rectify issues and be proactive speaks to potential deficiencies in the overall control environment. Ultimately, given the events that transpired during the pandemic, we would expect the Department to utilize all available resources.”

The pandemic exposed that the Department of Health was unable to respond quickly to the crisis because its inability to put together information that would have allowed facilities such as nursing homes to prepare better. This should be a priority for the Legislature and the governor, otherwise, it could happen again.

Ten years ago, we at The Post-Star did a series called “Who will take care of us? elder care crisis on the horizon.

In an editorial at the time, we wrote: “As distasteful as it is to think about, short terminal illnesses will be displaced by gradual deterioration in health and lifestyle. Who will take cre of the boomers? But what we are really asking is, who will take care of us? We believe this will the next great crisis our country must face as we struggle to care for our fathers, mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers as they once took care of us.”

Obviously, we did not know the pandemic would be the next crisis, but it crystallized the problems nursing homes face. But it appears that in the 10 years since, we have made little progress.

“We have to recognize with nursing homes, we’re dealing with a population that is among our most vulnerable,” DiNapoli told Times Union columnist Chris Churchill. “It’s such a big issue. So many lives were lost, and there was such a loss of faith in how the government handled it.”

Stillwater knocked off Salamanca Friday afternoon to advance to the state championship game Saturday night.

State Tourney

Great to see the public high school state basketball tourney back in Glens Falls after a six-year absence this weekend. If you’ve never been, you should check it out. The action is great and the atmosphere even better.

Stillwater provided some highlights for hometown fans as they rallied in the fourth quarter to advance to Saturday night’s state championship game.

Vote for my story

I’m asking all my readers to do me a favor and vote for my short story “Moving Day” on the Something or Other Publishing website. Each vote will move me a step closer to getting the story published as part of an anthology published by SOOP.

The story chronicles a cross country trip with my son to Texas at the height of the pandemic in 2021.

Washington County reporting

After not seeing any Covid-19 reporting data on the Washington County website, I emailed Argyle Supervisor Bob Henke to ask him why.

He explained it was because of the low incidence and the fact that the state was reporting the same numbers, so the county numbers would a duplication of the same information.

Where I disagree is that in small communities like those in Washington County, people are more likely to seek and trust the data from the county than from the state. Once a week is not often enough to report results.

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