The decision ends nearly a year of inquiry by the department started under then-President Donald Trump into how COVID-19 deaths and infections swept through the vulnerable populations in nursing homes.

In a letter to some Republican members of Congress, the Justice Department said it has decided against opening a civil rights investigation into public nursing homes in New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan, but it still has a probe in two nursing homes in New Jersey.

"Based on that review, we have decided not to open a CRIPA investigation of any public nursing facility within New York at this time," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joe Gaeta wrote, referring to the federal Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, which empowers the Justice Department to investigate allegations about unlawful conditions in government-run residences.