Dr. Howard Zucker steps down as NYS health commissioner
Dr. Howard Zucker resigned Thursday as the New York State health commissioner after playing a key role in fighting the COVID pandemic over the past 18 months but also becoming ensnared in a scandal involving undercounting of deaths in state nursing homes.
Gov. Hochul praised Zucker for his six years of service as the state’s top doctor, but made it clear she would continue to clean house from the scandal-tarred administration of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“I’m looking to build a new team, [and] there will be other changes coming,” Hochul said.
Zucker will remain in his post until a new health commissioner is appointed.
Hochul said Zucker “accepts and respects” her decision to assemble a new group of her own advisers and break from the Cuomo era.
She says more top appointments will be coming as she approaches the 45-day deadline she set for herself to build a team of top aides since taking office.
Zucker, a veteran public health official, was one of Cuomo’s longest-serving top lieutenants since being appointed as health commissioner in 2015.
He became a ubiquitous presence alongside Cuomo for months after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the state in March 2020, often appearing at the governor’s daily nationally televised press conferences.
Like Cuomo, Zucker won high marks initially for implementing tough restrictions to limit the spread and flatten the curve of caseloads in the terrifying first weeks and months of the pandemic.
But Zucker’s reputation was tarnished by his role in the undercounting of deaths in NYS nursing homes.
A probe by the office of state Attorney General Letitia James in January said both Cuomo and Zucker made key decisions that resulted in the state underreporting nursing home deaths by as much as 50%.
James suggested she is happy to see Zucker leave, saying his resignation “marks the end of a difficult chapter.”
“While I thank him for his service, we need more transparency and accountability at the Department of Health as we continue to battle COVID-19,” James said.
