Posted on 05/15/2020 4:33:27 AM PDT by Kaslin
On a multicountry trip to South America, President Ronald Reagan couldn't restrain himself from the inane observation that every tourist finds himself saying about such trips. "Every country is different." So, it seems, is every virus capable of spreading into pandemic.
The influenza pandemic of 1918-19, for example, tended to kill otherwise healthy people in the prime of life, ages 20 to 40. COVID-19 tends to kill people age 70 and above, especially those with comorbidities.
Yet, despite that being apparent early on, America's governors have done a poor job of protecting those most at risk -- residents of nursing homes with physical frailties and, often, cognitive impairment.
The result: One-third of reported coronavirus deaths in the United States, according to New York Times reporting, are of nursing home residents or workers. Nursing homes accounted for a majority of deaths in heavily hit states like New Jersey (52%), Massachusetts (59%), Pennsylvania (66%) and Connecticut (55%), and for 80% of the deaths in otherwise lightly hit Minnesota.
That percentage is much lower (20%) in America's COVID-19 epicenter, New York, but it still leads the nation with 5,403 nursing home deaths -- about one of every 14 COVID-19 death in the country.
Why so many? On March 25, the state health commissioner ordered that nursing homes to accept patients with the virus. It's unclear why he made this fatal decision. Maybe he wanted to keep hospital beds available, or maybe he feared that sick people would be dumped onto the street.
When asked about this policy in late April, Governor Andrew Cuomo professed ignorance. Two weeks later, on May 9, after 46 days in effect, he reversed it.
New York wasn't the only state that insisted on placing infected patients in nursing homes. New Jersey's policy was similar, explicitly barring homes from requiring testing before admitting patients. California had the same policy but dropped it after 10 days.
Other states, recognizing the dangers of infecting the vulnerable, required or encouraged nursing homes to set up separate units or staffs to handle patients testing positive. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely criticized in the national media for avoiding a total lockdown, zeroed in on nursing homes, encouraging repeated testing and temperature-taking of residents and staff and isolating anyone testing positive. Florida, a state with 2 million more people than New York, had just 714 nursing home deaths, 13% of the number in New York.
It's hard to disagree with the verdict of National Review's Jim Geraghty: "These decisions are so spectacularly wrongheaded, so epically foolish, that those responsible deserve to be remembered forever."
Let's hesitate a moment before piling on. Remember that, in March, epidemiologists and governors were worried that hospital facilities would be overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients in need of ventilators, which had been previously used to treat patients with severe respiratory function reduced by other viruses. So they were focused on getting recovering patients out of those supposedly needed hospital beds.
The nursing home mandates from the Cuomo administration and others were obviously mistakes, with fatal consequences. So was the Centers for Disease Control's failure to produce virus tests, and so was Donald Trump's failure to cut off air traffic from Europe, as he had in January from China. And given the negative public health effects of economic collapse, these continued lockdowns may also be seen as fatal mistakes.
Government officials' decisions about a novel virus will often turn out to be mistakes that cost lives. But decisions to send viral patients into nursing homes comes the closest to justifying screams of, "There's blood on your hands!"
Fortunately, societies can learn from mistakes. We have learned that the virus is not easily spread in open spaces. We have learned that the risk of fatalities among children and adolescents is near zero, perhaps less than that of seasonal flu.
We have learned our hospitals aren't going to be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and that ventilators don't always help. We have learned that it's possible to protect elderly people, even nursing home residents with comorbidities, with high but not total effectiveness.
And we have become aware, if only out of the corner of our eyes, that the lockdown of large segments of the economy wreaks not just economic damage but also has enormous negative consequences for public health, especially among disadvantaged people.
All of this points in the direction of phasing out lockdowns and allowing reopenings, at various rates depending on particular circumstances, and avoiding obvious blunders, like sending infections into nursing homes.
Early on CMS changed the regs to allow nursing homes that needed the ability to refuse to take back positive patients.
This is all on the governors.
And I’ll bet Medicaid costs are the motivation.
Let’s see if there’s a difference in the mortality rate for dual-eligible WuFlu nursing home patients and the rates for patients with different insurance.
When they finally decide to dump Biden, Cuomo could be their replacement. How he handled this man made disaster will not matter, how presidential he looks will.
I am so glad my own mother was not among those who died. Though she and I did not necessarily agree or understand one another, I loved and still do love my Mom. I am not sure I would be sanguine about a nursing home death due to Covid-19.
Frankly I think our Moms are precious beyond price. I owe her my life and I am grateful.
Anyone who wants or expects the governor to protect them deserves everything they get.
People may have legitimately thought that the DOCTORS might have stood up for them and pysically barred the door but that’s another thing entirely.
They all should be behind bars for manslaughter.
I dont believe Cuomo didnt know. He was very hands on.
That graphic needs a count of nursing home population in including staff. I’ll bet the difference would be even more stark. If Cuomo hasn’t fired that guy, he’s slacking.
Democrats.
It’s important to have a large pile of bodies to stand on while blaming Orange Man Bad for them.
What do we call premeditated murder??? this is what we call premeditated murder. And the smug despicable arrogant answers Cuomo gave to being questioned about this is reprehensible and vile.
We have learned our hospitals aren't going to be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and that ventilators don't always help. We have learned that it's possible to protect elderly people, even nursing home residents with comorbidities, with high but not total effectiveness.
And we have become aware, if only out of the corner of our eyes, that the lockdown of large segments of the economy wreaks not just economic damage but also has enormous negative consequences for public health, especially among disadvantaged people.
What utter Bull Schumer. Wow, it's a good thing we learned that outside is better and old people need protection... seriously?!
Request the State Attorney General open an investigation into Gov Cuomo's activities as murder and attempted murder for those who have died or were exposed to a deadly disease as a direct result of his forcing nursing homes to accept known COVID-19 infectious people.
Point out that Cuomo, and indeed everyone in the world knew that elderly with co-morbidities are the most vulnerable population.
Also point out that sovereign immunity does not apply in cases of deprivation of civil rights, the very most primary of which is life itself, under color of law.
Compare this to being no less of a terrorist attack than planting a bomb in a café.
Does the State Attorney General believe he/she has to show intent to harm the specific individuals who died or were maimed to press murder charges?
Ask how this is different?
It might also be worth filing a state FOIA request for the names of the next of kin of everyone who died of COVID-19 after Gov. Cuomo forced their nursing home to accept infectious patients. Invite their families to file their own individual criminal complaints.
Then send a similar letter to the applicable Federal judges asking for an investigation under 18 USC § 242, Deprivation Of Rights Under Color Of Law.
If your state pulled similar shenanigans, only change the names to punish the guilty...
PA's Dr. Levine seems especially exposed, given that her own mother was moved out of the nursing home while she was busy stuffing it with infectious people.
If he's under a mass murder indictment while attempting to run, even the MSM can't get away with ignoring that.
The deaths of thousands of NY’ers are because of “the dictator” Andrew Cuomo. He screwed up monumentally before during the housing mortgage crisis and now he screws up again. This mutt has gone to the best colleges, and had jobs all on his old man’s name.
Exactly, it was an intentional decision to raise the number of deaths to blame on orange man and support the decision to keep the economy shut down through the election.
IOW, premeditated murder.
Who infected them on purpose and then sent them Nursing Homes ?
Blaming Trump for anything is wrong here, but to say it came from Europe because Trump didn't stop flights earlier enough is a preposterous claim. Imagine the uproar if Trump permanently closed our borders because we know we could import more virus in the years to come, I don't hear the media clamoring for that?
I've come to the conclusion that Biden will be their nominee. If you get caught trying to take him down and he gets elected, you're through. It's the reason everyone sucked up to Hillary for all those years, fear of potential career ending retribution, or worse, a CIA investigation and bankruptcy.
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