EXCLUSIVE: The No. 3 Home Republican, GOP Convention Chair Elise Stefanik, is looking on the Biden administration to fireplace a federal well being official who beforehand oversaw New York’s lethal COVID-19 nursing house coverage.
Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) Deputy Director for International Well being Howard Zucker joined the administration in January 2021. He received the job a few yr and a half after he was compelled to resign as New York State well being commissioner amid accusations that then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration hid how many individuals actually died in nursing houses through the pandemic.
“Disgraced, corrupt Cuomo’s well being director Howard Zucker is chargeable for the deaths of tens of 1000’s of New York seniors,” Stefanik, R-N.Y. advised Fox Information Digital.
She referred to as Zucker a “Cuomo henchman” and accused him of main “the prison corruption scandal and coverup of the deaths” of New Yorkers dwelling in nursing houses on the time.
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Rep. Elise Stefanik is looking on a Biden CDC official to resign over his function in former New York Governor Andrew Cuomos dealing with of the COVID-19 pandemic
“I name on Biden’s CDC to right away fireplace Howard Zucker. I’ll proceed combating to ship accountability to the New York households who tragically misplaced family members due to Cuomo and Zucker,” Stefanik mentioned.
Different New York Republicans additionally joined her requires Zucker’s elimination.
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“Howard Zucker’s reckless, merciless, and inhumane decision-making through the pandemic brought on the dying of 1000’s of New Yorkers in nursing houses. Zucker ought to be in a courtroom answering for his actions, not employed by the CDC the place he may cause extra hurt,” Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., advised Fox Information Digital.
Dr. Howard A. Zucker was New York State well being commissioner when his division oversaw a coverage that compelled nursing houses to take again residents who had been hospitalized with COVID-19
“President Biden ought to give an oz of justice to New York households and defend all People and fireplace him instantly,” he mentioned.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., accused Zucker of getting “recklessly lied” to New Yorkers through the pandemic and hit out at Cuomo as nicely for profiting off of the pandemic by means of his memoir.
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“He partook in one of the vital shameful coverups in American historical past, willfully deceptive Congress and the state legislature in regards to the true variety of deaths that resulted from that disastrous coverage — all in an effort to guard disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo and his blood cash ebook deal,” Lawler advised Fox Information Digital.
“Joe Biden should instantly fireplace Howard Zucker and clarify how he was even employed within the first place,” Lawler mentioned.
Cuomo and his officers had been accused of undercounting the variety of COVID-19 fatalities by 1000’s
In 2020, because the pandemic ravaged New York, the state Well being Division underneath Zucker applied a coverage that resulted in nursing house sufferers being returned to their residences after being hospitalized with COVID-19. Critics of the Democratic administration claimed it fueled the surge within the state’s virus circumstances, one thing Cuomo officers denied.
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A subsequent report by New York Legal professional Common Letitia James discovered that his administration undercounted the variety of COVID-related nursing house deaths by 1000’s.
Fox Information Digital reached out to the CDC for remark however didn’t instantly hear again.