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U.S. will not investigate nursing home deaths in New York, two other states -letter

Published 07/24/2021, 08:22 PM
Updated 07/24/2021, 08:51 PM

By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has decided not to open a civil rights investigation into nursing homes in New York and two other states regarding their COVID-19 response, dealing a blow to several Republican lawmakers who had demanded a probe.

One underlying issue is whether three states with Democratic governors - New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania - inadvertently added to the coronavirus death toll in the early stages of the pandemic by allowing nursing homes to take in residents who had been hospitalized for COVID-19.

In a letter released late on Friday by the office of U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, the Justice Department said it had reviewed information provided by the states and, based on that data, it was not opening a civil rights investigation into "any public nursing facility within New York, Pennsylvania, or Michigan at this time."

The department noted that two other investigations, into a pair of nursing homes in New Jersey, remain ongoing.

Nursing homes across the United States took in COVID-19 patients in the early weeks of the outbreak, a move critics say spread the sometimes fatal respiratory virus among some of the country's most vulnerable at a time when there was no vaccine.

The issue dogged New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in particular and helped spark a reassessment of his legacy. In the early stages of the pandemic, Cuomo's daily televised news briefings made him a national figure in the fight against COVID-19. But he eventually battled allegations, including from New York state's attorney general, that his office had significantly undercounted nursing home fatalities and implemented policies that may have boosted the death toll.

Cuomo's office did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Saturday.

Scalise said on Twitter that the decision not to investigate was "absolutely shameful" and that Justice Department officials were "complicit in these Democrat governors' cover ups."

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People hold a memorial and a candlelight vigil honoring those that have died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in nursing homes one year after the March 25, 2020 executive order by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in which nursing homes in New York state were forced to take in untested patients, in Foley Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 25, 2021. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

His office did not immediately return a message seeking further details.

The Department of Justice did not immediately return messages.

Latest comments

Srardar
The Just us Dept. & Southern district of corrupt NY are all criminals and traitors to this country!
of course. Complete corruption. All empires have fallen due to liberal policies that lead to Socialism & Marxism.
ALL WILL BE EXPOSED, hopefully soon....or sometime...🤣 hopefully in my lifetime. That would be better .
Democrats covering up crimes, what’s new?
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