The governor of New York State on Thursday announced the resignation of her Health Commissioner, linked to the former administration of Andrew Cuomo and criticized for underestimating the death toll from Covid-19 in the homes of retirement.
“Dr (Howard) Zucker tendered his resignation, I accepted this decision“said Kathy Hochul, who took over from Andrew Cuomo on August 25, himself forced to resign because of accusations of sexual harassment against former employees of his administration.
“I had made it clear on my first day of exercise that I will be looking to build a new team“, added the Democratic governor of the fourth most populous state in the country, while thanking Howard Zucker, appointed commissioner in 2015, and whose overall toll she praised during the pandemic. She said he would remain in office on time to find a replacement.
Renowned doctor Howard Zucker has also been associated with the controversy over an underestimation by state services of the number of deaths from Covid-19 in retirement homes, which had strongly tarnished Andrew Cuomo’s record.
State Attorney General Letitia James said in January that the true toll of Covid-19 in nursing homes could reach double the official figures.
As soon as she took office, Kathy Hochul had reassessed the number of deaths from Covid-19 upwards, announcing more than 55,000 deaths reported to the CDC (Centers for the prevention and fight against diseases), against a little more than 43,000 during the Cuomo Mandate’s latest daily balances, resulting from an alternate counting method. Several officials, Republicans and Democrats, then pressured Kathy Hochul to separate from the Health Commissioner.
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