The first member of the Capitol press corps to be called on for a question in @NYGovCuomo's briefing (Cuomo aides choose) is @morganfmckay, who asks:
+ How does this new attribution of deaths to nursing homes affect policy?
+ Do you have confidence in DOH?
+ What about immunity?
Cuomo said he has not seen bills repealing immunity protections for health care providers, which were enacted in April as part of the state budget.
Cuomo: “The nursing homes were doing all this data in a hectic period. The OAG’s report also said, the data from the nursing homes is very sketchy. That’s why the department of health … has been auditing the data.”
Top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa says some states don't give out nursing home death data, and New York is one of nine states that also released presumed Covid-19 nursing home deaths.
"At this point, I believe that we give more data than any other state."
Cuomo and his small team took command of the Health Dept and overrode local govs that wanted to go beyond the state’s social distancing restrictions. That delayed the New York City shutdown and slowed the reaction time as the virus spread in nursing homes. wsj.com/articles/cuomo…
Columbia University researchers estimated that 17,514 deaths in the metropolitan area could have been avoided if officials had instituted seven days earlier each of the social-distancing measures they eventually enacted.