A nursing home admin from Staten Island says that he and other facilities’ executives were “petrified” after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s controversial order that likely accelerated CCP virus outbreaks at their facilities.
The administrator of the Silver Lake Specialized Rehabilitation and Care Center, Michael Kraus, told Fox News that he attempted to alert local officials about the infamous March 25 directive after he was cognizant about it, but that his worries were “shot down” by the authorities.
“Many facilities vocalized it,” Kraus told Fox. “They were petrified, but they were more petrified of the Department of Health ... once [my concern] was shot down, I never spoke [about it] again.”
Families of COVID-19 victims who passed away in New York nursing homes gather in front of Cobble Hill Heath Center to demand State Governor Andrew Cuomo apologize for his response to clusters in nursing homes during pandemic in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Oct. 18, 2020. Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo
A disclosure of data last month revealed that nearly 15,000 nursing home residents in New York died of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, after people recovering from the infection were released into nursing homes at the beginning of the pandemic. The number is much higher than the 8,500 figure previously made known.
“Prior to the release of the full nursing home data, the Cuomo Administration released misleading statistics regarding the number of deaths in nursing homes. We must come together as New Yorkers and demand that OPWDD be transparent about their conduct during the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote New York state Sen. Anthony Palumbo in a letter that was co-signed by members of the Mental Health and Disabilities Committees.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a protective mask to his face as he and Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa arrive for a briefing at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., on May 7, 2020. Mike Segar/Reuters
One of Cuomo’s top aides reportedly apologized to Democratic legislators for holding back data on the CCP virus deaths in the state’s nursing homes in order to dodge federal prosecution.
The acknowledgment of the reported cover-up was made by Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s secretary, on Feb. 11, during a video conference with Democratic leaders, according to a recording obtained by The New York Post.
