The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is considering a subpoena to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he rejects its final request for records about his decision to place COVID-infected patients in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. at the beginning of the outbreak. .
Speaker Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) threatened in a Tuesday letter to “evaluate” mandatory measures if Cuomo did not submit documents on his administration’s COVID policies by Oct. 17, according to a copy of the letter obtained exclusively by The Post.
“To date we have not received a single document from him. The Select Subcommittee is comprised of physicians from both sides of the aisle and members who take our responsibilities seriously,” Wenstrup wrote to the former governor.
“Contrary to your and your spokesperson’s unfortunate statements, this investigation is the result of your clearly medically misguided decision to expose New York’s most vulnerable to COVID-19 by issuing ‘must admit’ orders. ‘, which they had predicted[t]capable but deadly consequences for 15,000 nursing home residents,” he added.
“Any attempt to cover up the truth and conceal guilt is not acceptable to the American people. The Select Subcommittee is committed to a transparent investigation and expects you to be forthcoming during this process.”
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is considering a subpoena to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he rejects his final records request. James Messerschmidt
A spokesperson for the former governor told The Post in a statement that the letter was “a sham.”
“This letter is a sham, the data they seek, which has already been reviewed twice by the Department of Justice, as well as the State Assembly and the Attorney General, and they all found that no, there, they are with the state ”said Rich Azzopardi. .
“Once again, it is unfortunate that some DC politicians are trying to transparently weaponize people’s pain to advance a political agenda.”
The Empire State Department of Health under Cuomo issued an order on March 25, 2020 requiring senior care facilities to accept COVID-positive patients discharged from hospitals.
The then-governor partially rescinded that mandate during a press conference on May 10, 2020, preventing COVID-infected New Yorkers from being transferred directly from hospitals to nursing homes and allowing admissions from other facilities.
“To date we have not received a single document from him. “The Select Subcommittee is made up of doctors from both parties and members who take our responsibilities seriously,” Wenstrup wrote to the former governor.Getty Images
The Cuomo administration, in a July 2020 report, downplayed the total number of COVID deaths related to the policy by excluding patient deaths that occurred outside of any facility.
But Cuomo’s senior adviser, Melissa DeRosa, later admitted in February 2021 that the decision to hide the true number of deaths was made out of fear that federal prosecutors would “use the data against us.”
“The Post continues to misrepresent facts about nursing homes in relation to Melissa DeRosa; it is factually inaccurate and defamatory and must stop,” Greg Morvillo, DeRosa’s attorney, told the Post in a statement after publication.
In March 2022, New York’s comptroller finally found that Cuomo had “misled the public” by undercounting those deaths by more than 50%.
The Cuomo administration in a July 2020 report downplayed the total number of COVID deaths related to the policy by excluding patient deaths that occurred outside of any facility. Gabriella Bass
The House panel also sent a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen requesting a transcribed interview with Dr. Howard Zucker, former commissioner of the New York State Department of Health.
“It would be an injustice to humanity not to conduct a thorough postmortem review in this situation,” Wenstrup said, requesting that the CDC’s current deputy director for global health attend a Nov. 30 interview.
The documents and interview are expected to help in a “post-mortem” of COVID policies, as well as “inform possible future legislation to improve government responses to future pandemics,” he added.
Previous letters from the select subcommittee in May asked Cuomo for data on case counts and deaths related to his administration’s mandate on nursing homes.REUTERS
The panel had previously sought out Cuomo for his own transcribed interview, which he avoided.
Similar records requests were also sent to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose responses are now being evaluated by the select subcommittee, according to a spokeswoman.
Previous select subcommittee letters from May asked Cuomo for data on case counts and deaths related to his administration’s mandate on nursing homes.
Cuomo resigned in August 2021 after New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a report that found 11 women had been sexually harassed or abused by the governor.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn