Florida isn’t the problem. Georgia isn’t the problem. Wyoming, South Dakota, New Mexico and even California aren’t the problem.
New York is the problem.
The leaders of that state and city have failed. They couldn’t have botched this crisis any more than if they had done it on purpose. And that brings a question to mind.
Over 1,700 more coronavirus deaths reported in New York nursing homes
The coronavirus pandemic’s death toll on New York’s most vulnerable residents living in nursing homes has skyrocketed — with an updated state tally indicating the number of fatalities is more than 1,700 higher than previously reported. Revised state Health Department data reveal that at least 4,813 people residing in 600 nursing homes have died from COVID-19 or symptoms associated with the virus.
Sources told The Post even the new, higher number is likely undercounting cases. Many nursing home residents died after being transferred to hospitals, and industry sources said their deaths are not being fully accounted for. For the first time, the statistics include the deaths of nursing home residents suspected of dying from COVID-19 before a confirmed diagnosis was received. Previously the state did not count so-called presumed cases.
But in a Tuesday press briefing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo sought to downplay his own Department of Health’s accounting of the new cases.
“Just to be clear, I would take all of these numbers now with a grain of salt,” he told reporters in Midtown Manhattan. “What does a ‘presumed death’ mean, right? … How do you presume it to be coronavirus?”
The climbing death toll comes amid finger-pointing who is responsible for what has become an emerging scandal. Cuomo and Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker have come under fire for a March 25 edict requiring nursing homes to admit or readmit recovering COVID patients.
In a rare slap at a successor, former Gov. George Pataki called Cuomo’s nursing home policy a “disaster” that has contributed to nursing home deaths and has called for an independent federal probe of the administration’s actions. The governor has defended the policy, saying nursing homes were obligated to transfer COVID patients elsewhere if they did not have the capacity and safety protocols to house them.
And, asked Tuesday what improvements the state can make going forward with respect to coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, Cuomo was at a loss.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s something we’re studying. … You do everything you can.”
Nursing homes were clearly unprepared, lacking infection control protocols, personal protective equipment and tests to properly identify residents and staff infected with the virus.
At Cuomo’s behest, state Attorney General Letitia James and the Health Department are probing the actions of the nursing homes. The revised list found 22 nursing homes in New York City and Long Island reported at least 40 deaths. At least 12 facilities reported 50 or more deaths.