by adminNew York keeps publicizing lower COVID-19 death count than the federal figures
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has continued publicizing a much lower state COVID-19 death toll count than the numbers being presented to and displayed by the federal government, a new report revealed. The state and federal coronavirus death toll differential has even widened this year to a current reported gap of 11,000 — despite numerous investigations into the Cuomo administration for lowballing the number of nursing home COVID-19 deaths, according to a review by the Associated Press.
News of New York’s undercount comes months after Florida Gov. Ron Desantis was erroneously accused of doing the same thing.
As of this week, New York publicized a COVID-19 death toll of roughly 43,000, compared to the Centers for Disease Control public tally of about 54,000.
The total, higher federal count, includes people who have died with coronavirus as a cause or contributing factor listed on their death certificate, the report said.
Cuomo has refused to include “probable” coronavirus fatalities in the state’s reporting, but New York City has done so since April 2020.
Many other states including Florida have taken approaches in line with the CDC, which includes in fatality counts all cases where COVID-19 is an associated or contributing factor.
A March Yahoo report, citing research published in the American Public Health Association, had suggested The Sunshine State’s skewed their COVID-19 numbers, basing the assessment off a discrepancy in the state’s excess-death count.