ALBANY – State Senator Sue Serino (R, Hyde Park), Wednesday, criticized the legislative Democratic majority as well as the Cuomo administration for their lack of response to the large numbers of COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents.
Serino, the ranking member of the Senate’s Aging Committee, expressed her disappointment that State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said he could not attend the committee’s session Wednesday because of a supposed scheduling conflict.
She said the Democrats have the power to issue subpoenas and launch an investigation into the way the nursing home issue was handled by the governor.
“If they are not going to take the steps necessary immediately, then they are complicit in the cover up, and I do not say that lightly,” she said. “I understand everyone is busy, especially this time of year, so we went ahead and did the work for them. We had a subpoena drafted and if any of my colleagues in the senate majority are really serious about issuing a subpoena and launching a thorough investigation, all they have to do is sign it and send it.”
Assemblyman Kevin Byrne (R, Mahopac), the ranking minority member on the Committee on Health in that house, said the attorney general’s recent report “exposed what the second floor has tried to ignore for over six months.” He said the AG’s report “only strengthens our calls for an independent investigation into the state’s response to COVID-19 in our elder care facilities, including the decision to implement the controversial March 25th directive.”
