By Steve Neavling
The FBI and Justice Department have launched an investigation into how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration handled nursing home residents who were infected with COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic.
Federal authorities are investigating whether Cuomo’s coronavirus task force manipulated data to downplay deaths in nursing homes, The Times Union of Albany first reported.
“As we publicly said, DOJ has been looking into this for months,” Richard Azzopardi, spokesman for the governor, said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any task force members have been interviewed yet.
Cuomo had come under fierce criticism after requiring nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to accept people who had tested positive for COVID-19 and were in the hospital. The directive was later rescinded.
The Cuomo administration previously reported 8,500 nursing home coronavirus-related deaths, but the true toll was closer 15,000.
