Nursing home deaths: Cuomo offers alternative facts

Gov. Andrew Cuomo offers alternative statistics about New York's stunning number of Covid19 nursing home deaths









Most everyone knows that statistics can be manipulated.

That's why there are so many cliches about them: Lies, damn lies and statistics.  Figures don't lie but liars figure.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo came up with his own alternative facts today at his daily briefing about the coronavirus pandemic.

For background: Cuomo has been heavily criticized about about his handling of coronavirus patients in nursing homes, with various news outlets reporting that New York has the highest virus death toll in the nation for nursing home patients and workers.

Many blame a March 25  Cuomo administration order that required nursing homes to take coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals.

Today: Cuomo announced new rules to protect nursing home patients, including a rollback of that controversial order. Hospitals now will no longer be permitted to discharge infected patients to nursing homes, but must hold them or send them to a Covid-19 facility.

But in announcing the new rules, Cuomo attempted to downplay New York's nursing home death toll.

Of the 50 states, Cuomo said, New York ranks 34th in nursing home deaths as a percent of total state cornavirus deaths. (See the above chart.) Only 12 percent of its total deaths occurred at nursing homes.


In comparison, West Virginia was number one, with 81 percent of its total coronavirus deaths coming from nursing homes.


"So if you look at the states and the percentages of people who died in nursing homes as a percentage of that death, New York is number 34," Cuomo said.

But let's look at the actual numbers.

West Virginia has tallied a total of 51 deaths attributed to the coronavirus; 43 of those deaths occurred in nursing homes, according to a New York Times chart.

New York has had  more than 21,700 deaths attributed to the coronavirus; 5,380 occurring in nursing homes.

Which state's nursing homes would you prefer to be living in, regardless of ranking in nursing home deaths as a percentage of total virus deaths? The state with a total 43 nursing home deaths? Or the state with 5,380 nursing home deaths? Which increase by an average 20 to 25 a day, according to news reports.


To quote Cuomo: "So none of this is good news, but just to give you a context of what people are looking at."


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