This looks like New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s version of cleaning house.

More from the New York Post:

Embattled state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker will step down from his position as soon as a replacement can be found, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.

Zucker was a key figure in the administration of disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo, where critics charged he played a central role in its efforts to minimize and disguise the pandemic’s death toll across the state and in its nursing homes.

“He understands that, in this time, I’ve wanted to take the first 45 days to assemble a new team going forward,” Hochul said, announcing Zucker’s departure. “That process is ongoing, and he understands and he respects that.”

She added: “He also has an opportunity to move on to new ventures and I appreciate his his service.”

Hochul said a search for a replacement is underway.

Besides being part of the corrupt administration of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, it is well-known New York folklore that Dr. Zucker dined out on being the inspiration for the television series Doogie Howser, M.D.

The jokes write themselves.

How it started / How it's going https://t.co/6JJ7owywny pic.twitter.com/vcjUeVJaW8

— Ken Girardin (@PolicyEngineer) September 23, 2021

According to journalist Zack Fink, Stephen Bochco’s agent denies this. The penchant for lying and deceiving came early and often with this bunch.

Ugh. Sorry. They must have scrambled the link. Trying to find now.

Long and short of it? I spoke to Stephen Bochco’s agent in LA, and Zucker was NOT his inspiration for Doogie Howser. Zucker had been making this claim for years.

— Zack Fink (@ZackFinkNews) September 23, 2021

Under then-Governor Cuomo’s direction, Zucker issued the executive order that placed COVID-positive patients from hospitals into nursing homes. Zucker went even further, by barring nursing home staff from testing the returning patients for coronavirus. This resulted in the death of 15,000 elderly residents (from last count), including the in-laws of Fox News’ meteorologist Janice Dean. Dean has led the charge in shining the light on this horrific policy and its fallout, as well as holding Cuomo and his administration accountable for the deaths of innocent elders.

Howard Zucker is just as guilty as Cuomo when it comes to the March 25th order to put Covid positive patients into nursing homes and the subsequent cover up of the thousands of deaths. He should’ve been fired a year ago. https://t.co/DTgCjTvu5o

— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) September 23, 2021

Zucker and Cuomo defended the nursing home orders, saying the facilities were obligated to provide care and to obtain the necessary protective equipment to shield their staffs and other residents from the virus.

However, massive shortages of PPE made that impossible and it took state officials weeks to begin delivering the needed supplies, all as the death toll mounted.

They also came under fire for not allowing city nursing homes to send sick residents to two hospital ships that largely sat empty during the first wave of the pandemic.

Since Cuomo pretty much skated on killing grandma and grandpa, the investigation required a scapegoat, and Dr. Zucker was it.

Additionally, Zucker’s Health Department provided incomplete tallies of coronavirus death counts from nursing homes for months, by refusing to release the tallies of residents who later died in nursing homes.

The Cuomo administration only released the complete figures after state Attorney General Letitia James released a report saying the Health Department’s count likely understated COVID-linked deaths at nursing home facilities by 50 percent.

Zucker’s incomplete counts obscured the connection between 1,900 COVID deaths and nursing homes in New York City alone.

At the very least, the not-so-good doctor should also be stripped of his medical license, and prevented from ever practicing medicine again. At the most, he should be brought up on criminal charges and put on trial.

Only if we lived in a just world.