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Hochul, who vowed to be transparent during her inaugural address to New Yorkers, included a count of 55,395 Covid deaths in New York — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tally — in a press release released this week.
The number includes deaths from the virus throughout New York, and is higher than the 43,415 deaths reported by the Hospital Emergency Response Data System (HERDS) under the Cuomo administration, which only counts deaths reported by hospitals, nursing homes, and adult care facilities.
That count, which was used by Cuomo during his once-popular daily COVID-19 briefing only included deaths reported through the HERDS system.
Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic drew the ire of his critics and was heavily weighed during his impeachment inquiry that has since been dropped by the House Judiciary Committee.
“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 on MSNBC.
“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.”
During an appearance on NPR, Hochul made note that that “there are presumed and confirmed deaths.”
“People should know both,” she said. “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.”
Reaction to Hochul's revelation was swift.
"Today, Gov. Hochul confirmed what we have been saying months," State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said. "Disgraced former Governor Cuomo and Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker knowingly undercounted COVID deaths in our nursing homes to feed their egos, and in Cuomo’s case, to personally profit off a self-congratulatory book on his so-called 'leadership' during the pandemic.
"I first called on Howard Zucker to resign in January -- DOH under his leadership has lost all credibility as we continue our efforts to fight the resurgence in COVID and the Delta variant. He needs to resign, and if he does not, Gov. Hochul must terminate him immediately."
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