On Politics: Legislature neglects vital Covid nursing home inquiry

Congestion pricing isn’t the only worthy idea that’s now dead in Albany.

An effort to set up a commission with subpoena power to examine New York’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has not made it through the legislative session that ended last week. The effort, which had buy-in from progressive and moderate Democrats as well as some Republicans, would have been sorely needed — a depoliticized investigation into what went so horribly wrong four years ago.

In Washington, congressional Republicans have attempted their own investigation, even subpoenaing Andrew Cuomo, who gained great fame and later infamy during the pandemic, and Dr. Anthony Fauci. But there’s only so much a partisan inquiry can do, especially with conspiracy theorists populating the national party.

Republicans, though, are not entirely off-base when it comes to Cuomo and Covid, and there are Democrats in New York, like Julia Salazar, a Brooklyn state senator, and Jessica González-Rojas, a Queens Assembly member, who want to get answers. New York has lost more than 80,000 residents to Covid, the bulk of them in the first few months of the pandemic in 2020 when Cuomo became a national hero for calming Americans during his widely-watched press briefings.

Cuomo’s popularity soared as bodies piled up in morgues. And it was his poor decision-making that directly led to mass death in New York. Unlike California and Washington State, Cuomo dithered over locking down New York City when it became apparent the virus was spreading, even overriding his rival, Mayor Bill de Blasio, who wanted an earlier shutdown.

Later on, Cuomo made the disastrous decision to send Covid patients from hospitals back to nursing homes and obscured the death toll with faulty, intentionally misleading data. His health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, repeatedly misled the public at Cuomo’s behest and Attorney General Letitia James later found nursing home deaths might have been undercounted by as much as 50%. Cuomo also pocketed millions for a pandemic memoir, forcing state employees to work on the book as the virus raged and killed tens of thousands.

The legislation would have mandated that 16 members, appointed by the governor and the Legislature, to hold hearings and take testimony. A definitive report and record would then be prepared. It could be the equivalent of the 9/11 Commission Report — the terrorist attacks killed far fewer New Yorkers than Covid, but there was much more of a desire, then, to learn about what went wrong.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic legislative leaders seem disinterested at best. Cuomo, of course, would love everyone to move on. Without an aggressive examination of the failures of 2020, New York will be doomed to repeat the same mistakes if another pandemic or mass casualty event hits the state. Albany declining to act on Salazar and González-Rojas’s legislation could, quite literally, cost future lives.

Questions must be answered. What went right and wrong with the stockpiling of lifesaving medical equipment? Why were hospitals so overwhelmed? When, actually, was Covid first spotted? What future pandemic surveillance is the state doing? How can the state Health department be guaranteed a degree of independence, and not devolve into a political pawn for the executive? How well (or poorly) was the reopening of public schools handled?

Hochul has requested a review of New York’s response by an outside firm, but there will be no subpoena power. And there have been delays: state comptroller’s transactions show the Olson Group Ltd., the consulting firm hired more than a year ago to complete a lengthy pandemic review, has billed the state less than half of its $4.3 million contract.

With the legislative session done, lawmakers likely won’t be back to pass bills until January. A Covid commission must be on the docket in 2025. New Yorkers deserve to know what happened in their state — why so many suffered and what can be done to prevent another catastrophe.

Ross Barkan is a journalist and author in New York City.

Ross Barkan , 2024-06-10 22:37:09

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