An audit of New York stateâs response to the COVID-19 pandemic which, so far, has cost almost $2 million, included inaccurate information, may not have consulted with key players in the state Department of Health and falsely claimed that the state comptrollerâs office didnât consult with the DOH before releasing its own audit in 2022.
Additionally, according to reporting by The Albany Times Union, the Olson Group will not discuss its findings because the firm signed a nondisclosure agreement with the Hochul administration.
The Olson Group sustained another black eye by using research done by Bill Hammond, the Empire Centerâs senior fellow for health policy, but not attributing the work to him.
In a conversation with Capital Tonight, Hammond said the seriousness of the pandemic, the fact that 80,000 people died, and that the economy was thrown into chaos are all reasons itâs critically important the state have a serious, âunfetteredâ review of what happened.
âThe governor hired a consulting firm from Virginia, the Olson Group. It was answerable to her, and they didnât give it subpoena power. So, it ended up not being able to talk to all the people it needed to talk to. It ended up ignoring entire subjects because they were too politically sensitive and then, on top of that, they handed in a report thatâs full of factual errors, typos, itâs kind of sloppily printed. Itâs really disappointing to say the least,â Hammond stated.
The report was also late.
In one respect, the stateâs hands were tied by the requirement that any consulting group hired to produce the report was not involved with the stateâs COVID-19 response, which eliminated some of the countryâs largest consulting firms.
Asked about the report recently, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, âWe knew that things had to be done differently, they had to be done better and we had to prepare for the possibility that this would happen again.â
While acknowledging that the report was good to have, the governorâs office noted that because of the reportâs delay, the administration had already implemented several dozen âAfter Action Reportsâ to ensure New York is ready for another possible pandemic. These include an increase in funding for the state Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and a $1.7 billion investment in a new research lab.
Other steps taken by the state include continuing to maintain emergency stockpiles and creating a new Public Health Risk Communication Course with Cornell University.
Among the steps the state is expecting to take soon include funding pandemic response training programs through the Office of Emergency Management and continuing to improve healthcare system coordination through DOHâs surge and flex planning.
Asked if he believes the state is prepared for another COVID-like event, Hammond was skeptical.
âI have my doubts, because we havenât had any kind of reckoning with what happened,â he said.
