Its management of the pandemic criticized | New York State’s “Mister Health” resigns

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“The D^r (Howard) Zucker has resigned, I accepted that decision, ”said Kathy Hochul, who succeeded Andrew Cuomo on August 25, who was himself forced to resign on charges of sexual harassment on former employees of its administration.

“I made it clear on my first day of exercise that I would seek to build a new team,” added the Democratic governor of the country’s fourth most populous state (20 million people), while thanking Howard Zucker, appointed commissioner in 2015, and whose overall results she praised during the pandemic. She said he would stay on the job until he found a replacement.

Renowned doctor, Mr. 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.

Pushed to the exit

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 in the last daily Cuomo Mandate balances, resulting from an alternate counting method. Several officials, Republicans and Democrats, then pressured Kathy Hochul to separate from the Health Commissioner.

“The resignation of D^r Zucker marks the end of a delicate chapter for our state. Although I thank him for his dedication, we need more transparency and accountability in the Department of Health, as the battle continues against COVID-19, ”Letitia James reacted in a statement.

At the height of the crisis, in the spring of 2020, Governor Cuomo appeared in a positive light, his daily press briefings rational and reassuring, antithetical to the erratic announcements of then-President Donald Trump.

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