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When the COVID-19 pandemic swept through New York, the Department of Health was not prepared to respond to the infectious disease outbreaks in nursing homes, according to the audit, which helped lead to the inaccurate virus-related death count in facilities.
Auditors found that health officials undercounted the death toll in nursing homes by at least 4,100 residents and at times more than 50 percent, despite claims from the former governor, who said the state was doing well in protecting seniors.
“The pandemic was devastating and deadly for New Yorkers living in nursing homes,” DiNapoli said. "Families have a right to know if their loved one’s COVID-19 death was counted, but many still don’t have answers from the state Department of Health.
“Our audit findings are extremely troubling,” DiNapoli added. "The public was misled by those at the highest level of state government through distortion and suppression of the facts when New Yorkers deserved the truth.”
DiNapoli noted that the Department of Health would not provide auditors with a breakdown by name of the nursing home residents who died from COVID-19, and the actual number of nursing home residents who died is still uncertain.
He said that the audit revealed that “on many key indicators, New York significantly trailed other states in surveying nursing homes and developing strategies to stop infections from spreading in facilities.”
“The pandemic is not over, and I am hopeful the current administration will make changes to improve accountability and protect lives,” DiNapoli said. “An important step would be for DOH to provide the families who lost loved ones with answers as to the actual number of nursing homes residents who died.
“These families are still grieving, and they deserve no less.”
New York Attorney General responded to DiNapoli’s audit, noting that it affirmed some findings of her nursing home report in January 2021, particularly that the Department of Health misrepresented the true number of deaths that occurred in those facilities.
“This audit affirms many of the findings that we uncovered last year about the state’s response to COVID, most notably that DOH and the former governor undercounted the number of deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent,” she said.
“I am grateful to Comptroller DiNapoli for bringing much-needed transparency to this critical issue. My office will continue to monitor nursing home conditions and ensure the safety of our most vulnerable residents.”
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