In New York, a close associate of Governor Andrew Cuomo has apologized for statements that the state has withheld figures on the number of Covid-19 deaths in retirement homes. The Democrat has come under heavy fire after several allegations of deliberately withholding and minimizing the heavy toll of the coronavirus in the state. Many party members and opposition members want Cuomo’s special powers to be taken from him.
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New York State was the first to be hit hard by the corona virus last year, and thousands of people were also killed in residential care centers. But recently, several independent studies found that there were not 8,500 as always assumed, but nearly 15,000. Cuomo and his services would not have included the residents who had died in the hospital, and not in the rest home itself.
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Last week, The New York Post also leaked an audio recording of Melissa DeRosa, one of Cuomo’s top employees. She told off the record to critical MPs that the figures had already been deliberately withheld last summer for fear they would be “used against us” by federal prosecutors. Fears that then-President Donald Trump would use them in his criticism of Cuomo and the Democrats also played a role. Justice already started an investigation into the figures in the summer.
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Both Democratic and Republican MPs are now demanding that Cuomo’s proxies be taken from him to deal with the corona epidemic in the state. “This is a violation of public trust,” Senator Andrew Gounardes said on Twitter. “There must be full accountability for what happened.”
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