Calls for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation increased on Friday amid reports his administration withheld key fatality data for nursing home residents from a July report.

Sen. Rachel May, a Democrat from the Syracuse area, blasted the latest development in a statement, saying she is "especially angry" the controversy has become a political scandal and a distraction.

"If true, everyone involved in lying to the public and to the Legislature must resign immediately. And that includes the Governor. Even though he is not named in this specific article, it was done in his name," May said. "It stemmed from his overweening need to burnish his public image, and it was made possible, if not inevitable, by the culture he created of secrecy and fear of retribution that has been amply documented in recent days."

The Cuomo administration, in a statement Thursday night following reports in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, said the central issue raised is true: More complete fatality data was withheld. The Department of Health said this is because the data could not be verified for the report.

State lawmakers today are moving to rescind the governor's emergency powers given to him last year at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, though many of the existing orders will remain in effect.