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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is among many state leaders working to quell the rise in positive cases of the novel coronavirus ahead of the holidays, though the New York Democrat has been criticized over the how he handled the pandemic in certain situations.
New York was the epicenter of the domestic outbreak in early spring, bearing the brunt of cases as the country grappled with the disease and experts rushed to share more details on communicability, symptoms and prevention methods.
Since then, cases in the Empire State have dropped dramatically – and still remain among the lowest in the United States.
Despite praise for the flattening of the curve, one of the controversies in the state was Cuomo’s regulation of nursing home patients, which some believe may have contributed to a large number of deaths among the vulnerable elderly populations.
Here’s what you need to know about the directive:
Order
On March 25, Cuomo issued a directive requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients released from hospitals. He also demanded that the establishment ensure that it can adequately care for these people while protecting other residents.
The idea was anticipatory, looking at a scenario where hospitals were overwhelmed and were forced to send patients back to nursing homes.
The updated guide
The directive was overturned in May, when Cuomo said hospitals could not refer patients to nursing homes unless they tested negative.
CUOMO DOWNPLAYS CALLS FOR FEDERAL PROBE IN NURSING HOME DEATH
In accordance with government guidelines
Cuomo said the original directive was in line with the Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that have been communicated to all states on how to control infections in nursing homes. According to the guidelines, “Nursing homes should admit everyone they would normally admit to their facility, including people from hospitals where a case of COVID-19 was / is present.”
Defend your position
As recently as September, Cuomo said the deaths at state nursing homes were not linked to the order, but rather the result of infections introduced by staff or members of the family even before authorities knew the virus was circulating in the state. And from there, community spread led to infections among populations, who were particularly vulnerable to the virus.
Cuomo also said the order never really went into effect because the state never ran out of hospital beds and capacity.
However, ProPublica combed through data released by the state to show that 58 nursing homes did not have a sick resident or staff before a positive patient arrived from a hospital.
Deaths in nursing homes
Cuomo has taken on the heat because the state has seen multiple nursing home deaths linked to the virus.
The state only counts deaths that occurred in the nursing home facility itself, not patients who were transferred to a hospital and then died, so critics say the death toll is probably much higher.
By the end of the summer, there were 6,600 deaths occurring on nursing home properties, as reported by the Associated Press.
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Gregg Re of Fox News contributed to this report.
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