Tedisco: Where’s Gov. Hochul’s Nursing Home Deaths Investigation Report?

Senator Tedisco calling on Governor to release year-long $4.3 million “independent” pandemic policy review of the deaths of 15,000 New Yorkers in state-regulated nursing homes

Senator Jim Tedisco (R,C-Saratoga Springs) today is calling on Governor Hochul to immediately and publicly release a full and unredacted report of a year-long $4.3 million “independent” review of COVID-19 pandemic policy in New York, including if the Cuomo Administration has blood on its hands for the deaths and subsequent cover-up of over 15,000 people in state-regulated nursing homes.

On May 24, 2022, Governor Hochul announced she had ordered “a wide-ranging and independent review of the state’s policies during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.”  Hochul said:

“History deserves to have a true record of what happened here, and I want an outside look at it…I have to be able to leave future governors what was learned, not just in the health care space and the response dealing with nursing homes, but also decisions that affected our economy, decisions that affected families.”

On November 2, 2022, it was revealed that the Hochul Administration hired an outside firm, the Olson Group, Ltd, for a $4.3 million contract to perform a year-long study with the review to begin that month.  It’s now January 2024 and this report remains elusive.

“It’s been well-over a year now and there has been total radio silence from the Hochul Administration on the status of her so-called ‘independent’ report on the deaths of 15,000 of our most vulnerable citizens in nursing homes during the pandemic. Where is this report and why hasn’t it been released? We remember that every life lost during the pandemic was more than just a statistic, these individuals were someone’s spouse, parent, grandparent and sibling and they deserve to know what happened. We also urgently need this information expeditiously to ensure New York State is better prepared for a future health crisis that could be around any corner. Pandemics don’t abide by political timetables,” said Senator Jim Tedisco.

Senator Tedisco has been an outspoken critic of the previous administration’s March 25, 2020 executive order mandating the placement of Covid-positive patients in nursing homes, which many believe led to the deaths of over 15,000 New Yorkers in nursing homes. Tedisco joined the Empire Center is successfully suing the Cuomo Administration to get the real number of nursing home deaths publicly released.

Tedisco is also the sponsor of bi-partisan legislation for an independent investigation with subpoena power into the nursing home deaths (S.2419) that has the support of Janice Dean and many of the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in what’s become one of the worst disasters in New York State history in terms of loss of life.