“The DOJ “requested COVID-19 data from the governors of states that issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents,” a statement read .
In it, they reference a March 25th executive order which forced nursing homes to take on patients that had tested positive for coronavirus and prohibited facilities from requiring incoming patients “to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
Cuomo refused to reverse that directive for several weeks while well over 6,600 senior citizens – perhaps many more as you can see below – fell victim to the virus.”
Seems clear to me.
That’s not the only think Cuomo did. He allowed confirmed positive employees to report to work until the middle of May.
But something nobody’s asking: Why did residential care facilities take them back?
Fedzilla has relaxed both Medicare and Medicaid rules in the middle if March so facilities could refuse if necessary.
Why did the vast majority of the facilities take them back?
My suspicion is that Albany threatened the facilities with cuts in Medicaid payments, bad inspections, regulatory threats to get them to comply.
There’s a reason Albany protected these facilities from both criminal and civil liability in a provision snuck into the state’s budget.