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A controversial directive for New York nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients has increased the number of deaths in the population — and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s claims have been refuted, according to a New York State Bar Association report obtained exclusively by The Post.
The 242-page report released by the NYSBA Task Force on Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care also criticizes Cuomo for not reversing the “unreasonable” DOH mandate sooner than he did, saying it stayed in place for weeks longer than necessary.
“Although determining the number of additional deaths in nursing homes is beyond the capacity of the task force, there are credible reviews indicating that the guidance, during the six weeks in which it was in effect, did result in a number of additional deaths,” the report says.
“The Department of Health issued a report in 2020 in which it argued unconvincingly that admission of 6,326 residents infected with COVID during the period when the health directive was in effect had no effect. This could not be the case, and it has now been proven that this did not happen. This It is.”
The report says it is based on the information available “from the onset of the epidemic until the end of April 2021”.
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Its findings are based in part on a study by the Empire Center for Public Policy, first published by The Post, that linked “several hundred and possibly more than 1,000” deaths of nursing home residents to the Department of Health order issued on March 25, 2020.
The NYSBA report describes the now “infamous” guidance as central to the public narrative of New York’s first experience with the surge,” noting that it “provoked almost immediate criticism, caused the governor’s criticism of nursing homes, sparked a congressional investigation, and, ultimately, an investigation.” with the ruler himself.
The latter point appears to refer to an ongoing investigation by the FBI and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, but Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes is also part of an impeachment inquiry by the association’s Judicial Committee, which is also focused on allegations of sexual harassment and other matters involving sexual harassment. Three democratic periods.
The report was prepared by a 16-member task force headed by Hermes Fernandez, a lawyer and lobbyist who previously served as assistant counsel to Cuomo’s late father, who was then governor. Mario Cuomo.
It was adopted by the NYSBA’s Board of Delegates on Saturday, during a meeting in which 93 percent of about 200 members present voted for it, Fernandez said.
The report erred in the “absolute” of the Health Department directive, which requires nursing homes to accept “medically stable” COVID-19 patients who have been discharged from hospitals, and says it was “commonly read” as bypassing regulations for facilities to accept only patients who can care for them. correctly.
“The guidance came at a time when regulations were routinely bypassed,” the report says.
“Service providers have been told to follow the instructions of the Ministry of Health.”
The report also says that it was “unreasonable to leave the guidance in place for so long” before Cuomo finally succumbed to public pressure and reversed it on May 10, 2020.
“It peaked on April 14. Hospital beds at Javits Center were barely used, and USNS Comfort sat empty in the Hudson River,” the report says.
“The Comfort sailed from New York City on April 23. The March 25 directive could have been rescinded on or around the date the Comfort sailed, if not earlier.”
Tracy Alvino, whose father died of coronavirus while in a Long Island nursing home after having neck surgery, said the NYSBA report “confirms what our families already know.”
“Como lit the match and nursing homes were kerosene. It was a failure on every level. Nursing homes weren’t able to protect nursing home patients after admitting COVID patients,” Alvino said.
“Had the March 25 order not been issued, countless lives would have been saved. These would have been preventable deaths.
Additionally, the report notes that when controversy erupted over the guidance, the Department of Health also ordered “to secure nursing homes and maintain a 60-day supply of [personal protective equipment]. “
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“No one would argue with the need for nursing homes to maintain appropriate levels of PPE, but this was something to stock PPE at the moment when it was most expensive and least on offer,” the report says.
“It did nothing for patient care at the time, but it did increase the costs of the nursing home.”
AGM Ron Kim (Dim-Queens) said Tuesday that he doubts the NSW report will be “the beginning of many more reports that will come to prove the deadly impact of the March 25 order.”
“The window of honesty and asking for forgiveness is lost,” said Kim, whose uncle died in a nursing home in Queens after experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.
“I think there was a small window early on where they could have admitted their mistake and ask for forgiveness but now they triple their lies amid the cover-up, where if they admit the truth, they admit to acting criminally.”
“It’s great that the Bar Association is highlighting the March 25 order,” said Haydee Paybee, whose mother died of COVID-19 in a Manhattan nursing home.
“Why would you put COVID patients with the most vulnerable in nursing homes? It’s crazy,” Bei Bei said.
“Como is trying to let time pass for the case to go away. Families are not going to make this case go away.”
“Unfortunately, this is another example of some politicians pushing their own political agendas and personal vendettas,” a Department of Health spokesperson said of the report.
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“This latest report, like others before it, supports what we have said all along, that New York was blind and hard hit, and when COVID reached communities, it spread quickly and quietly from asymptomatic employees to nursing homes, and that the nursing home experience In New York it was no different from the experience of other states.”
The report goes on to say that the ratio of New York nursing home deaths to total deaths “is slightly different from the rest of the nation” and that “New York nursing homes are neither better nor worse than the nation as a whole.”
To read more from the New York Post, click here.
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