The deaths of about 15,000 New Yorkers from the coronavirus in state-regulated nursing homes has been one of the worst, most horrific events in our state\u2019s history. Families of those who lost loved ones to the virus deserve closure and we need to know what went wrong that enabled this terrible tragedy to occur.<\/p>\n
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After Governor Cuomo\u2019s six months of delay and denial of any responsibility his administration may have, it took a lawsuit by the Empire Center that I was a friend-of-the-court to, and subsequent court order last week by Justice Kimberly O\u2019Connor, for the state Department of Health to release additional data on the deaths of New Yorkers from the coronavirus.\u00a0However, as Bill Hammond of the Empire Center points out, last night’s data release by the Cuomo Administration is still incomplete and does not fully account for the dates of the deaths of 600 long term care residents who died in hospitals. It\u2019s totally unacceptable that the Cuomo Administration is not adhering to Justice O\u2019Connor\u2019s court order and fully disclosing all the information we have requested.\u00a0 They must release this information immediately.<\/p>\n
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With all of his obfuscation and stonewalling, the Governor will never get an Emmy for transparency. Sadly, this is a hallmark of the Cuomo Administration.\u00a0 I soon will be announcing new legislation to create real penalties for public officials who ignore and flaunt Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests as part of our state\u2019s open government law and deny the public\u2019s right to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
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