A new report has revealed that a staggering 14% of New York state’s pre-COVID nursing home population died from the virus. These reports once again highlight the staggeringly disastrous decision by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to house recovering COVID-positive patients in nursing homes with healthy patients.

According to The Empire Center, a nonprofit think tank based in Albany, New York, approximately 13,000 people died in connection with New York nursing homes, which is double what had previously been reported. It is also two points above the national average and represents about 14% of the population.

And that may not be the worst of it, as the death toll could still be higher.

As news first broke of Gov. Cuomo ordering nursing homes to take in recovering COVID-positive patients, putting healthy and vulnerable residents at risk, family members reacted with horror and frustration.

Janice Dean, senior meteorologists with Fox News, shared with The Daily Citizen her family’s grief over losing her mother- and father-in-law to COVID within two weeks of each other and her anger towards Gov. Cuomo.

Now, the state is facing a Freedom of Information Act request from The Empire Center about the nursing home mortality death information. “Unless it appeals the ruling, the department is due to release the records within five business days.”

This could potentially push the morality rate even higher, as many believe the governor’s team is still hiding the full extent of the death toll from the public.

There are also now reports that New York, and other progressive-led cities and countries in Europe, are struggling to find people who fit all the proper requirements in order to get the COVID vaccines. In some situations, viable vaccines have been thrown out.

As The New York Times reports, “A common problem seems to be a focus on process rather than on getting shots into arms. Some progressive leaders are effectively sacrificing efficiency for what they consider to be equity.”

This is particularly a problem in New York, where another Times reporter wrote, “Across New York State, medical providers in recent weeks had the same story: They had been forced to throw out precious vaccine doses because of difficulties finding patients who matched precisely with the state’s strict vaccination guidelines — and the steep penalties they would face had they made a mistake.”

Due to all of the controversies and mismanaged response, there are increasing calls to strip Gov. Cuomo of some of his emergency powers, including from his own party.

“Just to put this into perspective as to why we need to limit and end the governor’s outsize power, his broad emergency power, is because in just the first six months of the governor’s expanded emergency powers, he used that power to issue 65 executive orders, and to suspend more than 250 laws,” Democrat State Senator Allesandra Biaggi said.

The COVID response in New York state has received a lot of media attention, mostly due to Gov. Cuomo’s Emmy award-winning daily briefings (that’s not a joke) and his book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” But as more information about nursing home deaths and a failed vaccine distribution continue to come out, the future of his reign over New York state looks increasingly in question.

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