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https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/spl/rachel-levine-pennsylvania-nursing-homes-data-joe-biden-senate-confirmation-20210225.html
HARRISBURG — During a federal confirmation hearing Thursday, former Health Secretary Rachel Levine was questioned about the ongoing data discrepancies in Pennsylvania’s public reports on nursing home coronavirus deaths and cases.
Levine, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as assistant health secretary, oversaw the Pennsylvania Department of Health through the first year of the pandemic, which has killed thousands of people in long-term care facilities.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said Levine had assured her that Pennsylvania had accurately reported deaths in these homes, unlike New York, where the attorney general found that the Cuomo administration had undercounted fatalities by the thousands.
But Collins questioned that claim, citing Spotlight PA reporting from September 2020 that found weekly reports released by the state health department were consistently missing death and case data for more than 100 of the state’s 693 nursing homes.
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