State Sen. George Borrello

State Sen. George Borrello finds the timing of state Attorney General Letitia James’ bombshell report on underreported COVID-19 nursing home deaths a little fishy.

State Sen. Sue Serino, R-Hyde Park, said Wednesday she wanted Senate Democrats to exercise their subpoena power to make the state produce data on nursing home deaths in the wake of the postponement of the Joint Legislative State Budget Hearing on Health from Feb. 3 to Feb. 25.

James’ report was dropped the very next day.

Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, said when contacted by The Post-Journal that the Thursday morning release of information was interesting in light of the previous day’s developments.

“The timing of this report’s release is interesting, to say the least,” Borrello said. “Since the commissioner was supposed to be testifying before the legislative hearings next week.”

Borrello, Serino and several Republicans in the Senate have been pushing for a subpoena to be issued even before a legislative hearing last August during which Dr. Howard Zucker, state health commissioner, promised to release information on nursing home deaths. The state has only released the number of New Yorkers who passed as a result of COVID if they did so while still in their nursing home. It has not released the number of New Yorkers who contracted COVID-19 in a nursing home, but later passed in a hospital.

Public health officials argue that as a result, New York could be drastically underreporting the number of COVID-related deaths in these facilities. To date, there have been nearly 9,000 COVID deaths reported in New York’s nursing homes, but experts say the real number could be as much as doubled.

News outlets including the Associated Press and independent organizations like the Empire Center for Public Policy alike have filed Freedom Of Information Law requests with the state to get access to the numbers, but the state has continued to deny and delay these requests. Empire Center officials criticized the state’s denial of nursing home death information again Wednesday.

There are two pieces of legislation pending in the state Legislature dealing with the issue.

A.3162/S.2067 was introduced last week in the state Assembly sponsored by Assemblyman Ron Kim, D-Queens, and co-sponsored by several Republicans and Democrats. The Senate legislation is sponsored by Sen. James Tedisco, R-Glenville, and is co-sponsored by several Republican senators, including Borrello. Tedisco’s bill was originally introduced last July.

The bill establishes a temporary state commission to study and investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic response on deaths in nursing homes with a bipartisan commission that would include five members: one each appointed by the Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, Assembly Speaker and Assembly Minority Leader, and chaired by an appointee of the New York State Attorney General. The commission would be funded through the existing state budget for investigators and have subpoena power. A report to the Legislature of findings and recommendations for the future would be issued by Nov. 30.

“The calls for truth and transparency from grieving families were finally answered today with the release of the Attorney General’s report on the undercounting of deaths of nursing home residents from COVID-19,” Borrello said in a statement. “After months of stonewalling, blame-casting and diversion by the governor and health commissioner, we have confirmation that COVID deaths in nursing homes were undercounted by as much as 50%. While this news cannot undo the damage and precious lives that were lost through reckless decisions, including the deadly March 25, 2020, order to send COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, these revelations will help ensure better oversight and vigilance going forward.”

S.3061, meanwhile, was reintroduced in the Senate on Wednesday by Sen. Gustavo Rivera, D-Bronx, with co-sponsorship from three Senate Democrats: Robert Jackson, Rachel May and James Skoufis. The four originally introduced their bill last September. Rivera has been an outspoken critic of the way Zucker has accounted for nursing home deaths.

“It seems to me that the definition you insist on keeping on the books, and one that no other state utilizes, and makes you look better than what you actually did – that’s a problem, bro,” said Rivera said to Zucker during last August’s legislative hearing.

Zucker, meanwhile, is already facing calls to resign. The first call came from Sen. Rob Ortt, R-Lockport and Senate minority leader. Later calls, however, placed the blame higher than the state’s health commissioner.

Among them was Borrello.

“While I echo the call of Leader Ortt and my colleagues for the resignation of the Health Commissioner, this in no way absolves the governor of any wrongdoing,” Borrello said. “Nothing in the Cuomo administration happens without his knowledge and consent. We, as a legislative body, need to hold him accountable for this horrific tragedy and the bad decisions that led up to it.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, renewed his call for a federal investigation into the state’s handling of nursing home deaths. Reed criticism last summer stemmed from a March 25 directive from Cuomo requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients if they were medically stable. The policy was eventually revoked in May. On Thursday, Reed called for a full federal investigation as well as congressional hearings.

“Since May of last year, we have worked tirelessly to shine a light on New York’s disastrous nursing home policies to ensure such a colossal public health failure never happens again,” Reed said in a statement Thursday. “Instead of working with us, Governor Cuomo’s only response has been to ruthlessly attack anyone who questioned the state’s disastrous policies, including those from his party, deny any wrongdoing, and hide damning nursing home fatalities data that would implicate his administration. Now, the state’s incompetence and gross negligence have been confirmed by its own Attorney General.”