US: FBI probing COVID-19 deaths in NY nursing homes

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started jointly with the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn to investigate COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes at the state of New York, according to local media Wednesday.

The investigation by the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York has begun looking into the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, according to the Albany Times Union report.

During the pandemic, Cuomo's senior officials and his task force have been responsible for handling nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in the state.

New York comes second after California among the most total deaths from COVID-19 with 46,267 as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The state's Department of Health said last month coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes across New York may have been undercounted by approximately 50%.

Cuomo promised last year to make "a special effort" to protect nursing homes and later ordered to investigate how facilities were complying with COVID-19 guidelines.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to reports.

Brooks-LaSure, who needs Senate confirmation, was a top official at the CMS during the President Barack Obama administration where she worked with the White House to implement the 2010 Affordable Care Act commonly known as Obamacare.

Out of 72,423,125 distributed doses of vaccines in the US, 56,281,827 were administered as of 6 a.m. EDT (1100GMT) Wednesday, but only 15,471,536 people have received two doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

More than 27.8 million cases have been recorded in the US since the start of the pandemic with nearly 500,000 deaths, Johns Hopkins University data showed.