NY hospitals sent some 6,300 coronavirus patients to nursing homes, officials say, as Cuomo tries to deflect
The governor, a Democrat, has cast blame on infected home workers
By Marina Villeneuve, Jennifer Peltz
| Associated Press
New York hospitals released more than 6,300 recovering
coronavirus patients into nursing homes during the height of the pandemic under a controversial, now-scrapped policy, state officials said Monday, but they argued it was not to blame for one of the nation’s highest nursing home death tolls.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, which has taken intense criticism over the policy, instead contended the virus’ rampant spread through the state’s nursing homes was propelled by more than 20,000 infected home staffers, many of whom kept going to work unaware they had the virus. . . .
. . . But several relatives, patient advocates and nursing administrators who spoke to the AP at the time blamed the policy for helping to spread the virus among the state’s most fragile residents. To date, more than 6,400 deaths have been linked to the coronavirus in New York’s nursing home and long-term care facilities.
Cuomo, a Democrat, reversed the directive under pressure on May 10, but he has argued for weeks that infected home workers, not released COVID-19 patients, were to blame for a coronavirus spread through nursing homes that he compared to “fire through dry grass.”
He noted Monday that it wasn’t well understood early on how readily the virus could be spread by people without symptoms.
“Nobody knew what they were talking about for a long time. That’s the bottom line here,” he told reporters in New York.
The health commissioner said there was “no reason to place blame” on anyone. . . .