The governor of New York State on Thursday announced the resignation of her health commissioner, linked to the former administration of Andrew Cuomo and criticized for underestimating the death toll from COVID-19 in homes of retirement.
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“Dr (Howard) Zucker has resigned, I accepted that decision,” said Kathy Hochul, who succeeded Andrew Cuomo on August 25, who was himself forced to resign on charges of sexual harassment. on former employees of his administration.
“I had made it clear from my first day of exercise that I will seek to build a new team,” added the Democratic governor of the fourth most populous state in the country (20 million inhabitants), while thanking Howard Zucker, appointed commissioner in 2015, and whose overall results she praised during the pandemic. She said he would stay on the job until he found a replacement.
Renowned doctor, Mr. Zucker has also been associated with the controversy over an underestimation by state services of the number of Covid-19 deaths in retirement homes, which had strongly tarnished Andrew Cuomo’s record.
State Attorney General Letitia James said in January that the true toll of COVID-19 in nursing homes could reach double the official figures.
As soon as she took office, Kathy Hochul had reassessed the number of deaths from COVID-19 upwards, announcing more than 55,000 deaths reported to the CDC (Centers for the prevention and fight against diseases), against a little more than 43 000 in the last daily Cuomo Mandate balances, resulting from an alternate counting method. Several officials, Republicans and Democrats, then pressured Kathy Hochul to separate from the Health Commissioner.
“Dr. Zucker’s resignation marks the end of a delicate chapter for our state. Although I thank him for his dedication, we need more transparency and accountability in the Department of Health, as the battle continues against COVID-19, ”Letitia James reacted in a statement.
At the height of the crisis, in the spring of 2020, Governor Cuomo appeared in a positive light, his daily press briefings rational and reassuring, antithetical to the erratic announcements of then-President Donald Trump.
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