Over 9K virus patients sent to NY nursing homes
(12 Feb 2021) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4310758 More than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients in New York state were released from hospitals into nursing homes at the height of the pandemic under a controversial order that was scrapped amid criticisms it accelerated outbreaks, according to new records obtained by The Associated Press. The new number of 9,056 recovering patients sent to hundreds of nursing homes is more than 40% higher than what had been previously released by the state health department. And it raises new questions as to whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo's March 25 directive helped spread sickness and death among residents, a charge his administration disputes. Cuomo's March 25 directive requiring nursing homes to take recovering COVID-19 patients was intended to free up space in hospitals swamped in the early days of the pandemic. It came under criticism from advocates for nursing home residents and their relatives for the potential to spread the virus in a state that at the time already had the nation's highest nursing home death toll. In its reply to an AP Freedom of Information request from May, the state health department this week released two figures: a previously released count of 6,327 admissions of patients directly from hospitals and a new count of 2,729 "readmissions" of patients sent back from a hospital to the nursing home where they had lived before. Critics have long argued that there were many other places those patients could have been sent, including New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center, which had been set up as a makeshift hospital, and the USS Comfort military hospital ship. The state contends those facilities were not suitable for such patients. Cuomo reversed the directive May 10, barring nursing homes from accepting COVID-19 patients without a negative test first. State health officials contend that asymptomatic nursing home employees, not recovering COVID patients, were the driving factor in nursing home outbreaks. And they have repeatedly noted that by law, nursing homes weren't supposed to accept anyone they couldn't adequately care for. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
