It is being reported on multiple news outlets that the State of NY Health Department MANDATED that nursing homes accept COVID-19 patients who were “medically stable.” See here, here and here.
In part, the directive reads,
“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
Who, in their right mind, would force this disease INTO nursing homes? Just how irresponsible is this? The State of New York was forcing a deadly disease into areas where the most vulnerable reside. The results were as predictable as the sun rising in the east.
Multiple nursing homes in NY who were forced to accept COVID-19 patients are reporting epidemics within their facilities with the vast majority of deaths being non-transferred people.
The Gurwin Jewish Nursing and Rehabilitation Center had only one known resident who had contracted the virus. A month later after multiple transfers from hospitals of positive COVID-19 patients, Gurwin is battling an outbreak that’s killed 24 residents — only three of whom were hospital transfers — and one staff member, who worked in housekeeping.
A Queens nursing home that had no known COVID-19 patients was forced to accept two patients. A month later more than 30 residents of the facility have died. In the words of one doctor, they “were dropping like flies.” Interestingly enough when the two patients arrived, a box containing five body bags also arrived from the hospital.
The Daily Wire reported,
There are numerous other reports emerging about other nursing homes in NY.
When questioned, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said that under the state’s policy, “if you are positive, you should be admitted back to a nursing home.”
Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) said Zucker’s assertion that “necessary precautions” were being taken to prevent the spread of infections in nursing homes was “clearly not the case.”
“It’s either he’s lying or they have absolutely no idea what’s going on on the ground.”
Clearly this mandate is one of the reasons that NY leads the country in confirmed cases of COVID-19. This mandate is beyond irresponsible.
One might remember a while back that one Scott Stringer, an NYC official, claimed that PDJT had “blood on his hands” due to his coronavirus response.
An executive at the Queens facility had this to say,
Actually when one takes the time to mull these actions over, one realizes that this is consistent with other Democratic mandates about the most vulnerable among us. After all, this is the state that applauded passing a law that permitted the killing of unborn children up to the moment of birth.
It gets worse. When one overwhelmed Brooklyn nursing home asked if they could send some of their patients to the vastly under-utilized USS Comfort that was then docked in NY harbor, the request was refused. The reason? The state had decided that the ship was only for overflow from hospitals. Never mind that people’s lives were at serious risk and there were fewer than two dozen patients on the ship.
Keep in mind that the media has “fawned” over Governor Cuomo for his “leadership.” One wonders how they will spin this. They will probably accuse the nursing homes of being incompetent or uncaring or greedy or all three.
When all this is over, there needs to be an accounting. There are undoubtedly many valuable lessons on what to do and what not to do. It appears that New York State may be at the head of the list on what not to do.
Families of those that were in the facility when the Nursing Home was forced to receive known Covid 19 infected patients into the facility and their family member died due to exposure to Covid 19 should seek legal counsel. I expect wrongful death cases to emerge with the list going ll the way to the governor himself.