New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended his handling of nursing homes Tuesday, one day after the state reported more than 1,700 previously undisclosed deaths at nursing and adult care facilities that remain the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.
Mr. Cuomo said visitors have been forbidden and that nursing homes can transfer residents or call the health department if they don’t think they are capable of providing sufficient care.
At the same time, the governor of the nation’s hardest-hit state said he is studying what he can “do better going forward” and that New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating how nursing homes have handled outbreaks.
“We did some very harsh things here [that] quite frankly I wasn’t even comfortable with, but the health experts insisted,” Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said at his daily COVID-19 briefing. “No visitors to a nursing home for two months? How do you do that?
“If there’s anything else we can learn from and do, we will do,” he said.
At least 4,813 people have died from COVID-19 in New York’s nursing homes since March 1, according to a tally released by Mr. Cuomo’s administration that, for the first time, includes people believed to have died from infection of the coronavirus before lab tests could confirm their diagnoses.
Nursing homes around the world are uniquely challenged by COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus that spreads rapidly and has infected more than 1.2 million nationwide.
The facilities are congregate settings where people live, dine and socialize in proximity for extended periods. The types of people who live in nursing homes — seniors and those with underlying health conditions — are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19.
“The nursing home problem, that’s your ground zero. It really is ground zero,” President Trump said at a recent Fox News town hall.
The Trump administration has taken steps to protect nursing homes and improve reporting of COVID-19 cases, but some lawmakers want more. Nearly 90 House Democrats pressed the Trump administration this week to set aside some of the $25 billion that Congress recently approved for coronavirus testing for use in long-term care facilities.
“Diagnostic testing remains one of the most essential tools we can utilize to contain COVID-19 and prevent future spikes,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
The risk to nursing homes has been clear since early March, when Washington state reported numerous deaths at a facility in Kirkland.
As of late April, more than 4,000 facilities had reported nearly 51,000 cases of COVID-19, resulting in more than 10,000 deaths, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of data from three dozen states.
More than 50 residents of a nursing home in Medford, Massachusetts, have died from COVID-19, according to The Boston Globe, which on Monday reported that the situation had “escaped widespread public notice for weeks.”
Long-term care facilities account for one in five COVID-19 cases and a whopping two-thirds of deaths in Pennsylvania. In New Jersey last month, police in Andover Township found 17 bodies in a small nursing home morgue intended for no more than four.
New Jersey State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal opened an investigation into the state’s long-term care facilities after reports of “bodies piled up in makeshift morgues” and other issues.
“I certainly understand that for many of these facilities, this was the equivalent of a 500-year flood,” Mr. Grewal said Tuesday. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t examine how folks responded when those floodwaters started rising.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said Tuesday that COVID-19 issues at long-term care facilities have been “among our biggest challenges, if not the biggest.”
He said about half of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been in the long-term care system.
“It is truly a national issue,” he said. “And while we know there are many good actors who will do all they can to protect their residents and staff, unfortunately we also know there are also bad actors in this industry.”
In New York, Mr. Cuomo acknowledged that nursing homes will continue to be targets for the virus but said officials are always looking for ways to improve.
“All it takes is one staff person who doesn’t have a temperature, is not symptomatic. … All it takes is one person to bring that virus in there,” he said. “And you do everything you can, but at the same time you can’t do everything, right?”
Some nursing homes, hoping to prevent transmission, are having staff live on-site instead of commuting from home.
In France, staff at a nursing home ended a 47-day quarantine Monday. In Connecticut, the owner of an assisted-living facility that is housing staff on the premises, Tyson Belanger, has called for government funding to help more senior communities do so.
In Georgia, 30-year-old Nadia Williams, a health care administrator, said she had to watch her sister’s wedding on Zoom because her duty to the residents at an assisted-living facility near Atlanta came first.
“I wish I was there, definitely,” she said, choking up in a video interview with The Associated Press. “I wish I was able to help her get ready.”
Mr. Trump said he is working to protect nursing homes. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending personal protective equipment to all 15,400 Medicaid- and Medicare-certified nursing homes in the U.S. and is providing states with $81 million.
Also, the administration decided to require nursing homes to report COVID-19 cases to residents and their family members.
Mr. Trump also created the Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes. The group plans to meet this month and make recommendations.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said nursing homes should remain on the list of beneficiaries in a phase four coronavirus relief package.
“Our health system is under enormous strain. We need more money to flow to hospitals, community health centers, nursing homes,” he said.
Likewise, Sen. Susan M. Collins, Maine Republican, said she is “very concerned” about COVID-19 outbreaks among vulnerable seniors and “delays in distributing CARES Act funding to our nation’s nursing homes.”
“Additional support and resources are needed to protect these residents and employees from the virus,” said Ms. Collins, chair of the Senate Special Commission on Aging. “We must ensure that this sector serving older Americans receives special attention as we continue to take steps to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and support our health care providers on the front lines.”
⦁ This article is based in part on wire service reports.
