Tag: nursing homes

Many State Senators Want To Strip Cuomo Of Emergency Powers, Citing Nursing Home Cover-Up

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/northsalem/politics/many-state-senators-want-to-strip-cuomo-of-emergency-powers-citing-nursing-home-cover-up/803232/

Excerpt:

New York State Senate Republicans, and now, a growing number of Democratic Senators, are seeking a special session in an effort to remove Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s emergency powers in the wake of the report into the underreporting of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes statewide.

Senate Republican Leader Robert Ortt and members of the Republican Conference called on the Senate Majority to convene a special session and strip Cuomo of his emergency powers while calling for a thorough investigation into his administration. They were later joined by 14 Democratic senators.

…..

“This administration has shown a callous disregard for these vulnerable residents and their families for months, but this stunning admission is a horrific new low,” she said. “A full, independent investigation into the state’s handling of the COVID crisis in New York’s nursing homes needs to be launched immediately and any lawmaker who is not actively working to make that happen is complicit in the cover-up—period.”

Author(s): Zak Fallia

Publication Date: 13 February 2021

Publication Site: Daily Voice

Coverup claims engulf Cuomo as scandal over nursing home deaths grows

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2021/02/12/coverup-claims-engulf-cuomo-as-scandal-over-nursing-home-deaths-grows-1363353

Excerpt:

The administration’s handling of nursing homes is now a full-blown scandal — a stunning reversal for Cuomo, whose early handling of the pandemic and high-profile daily press briefings earned him soaring approval ratings, an Emmy and a book deal.

Now, many fellow Democrats want to write an epilogue.

As Cuomo headed to Washington Friday to meet with President Joe Biden on pandemic response, at least 14 Democrats from the left flank of the state Legislature called for a repeal of the governor’s emergency powers — enacted nearly 11 months ago — that have given him nearly unilateral authority during the pandemic. And momentum appears to be growing in the Legislature to exert more oversight.

Author(s): SHANNON YOUNG and ANNA GRONEWOLD

Publication Date: 12 February 2021

Publication Site: Politico

Top NY Republicans seek to oust Cuomo, other officials after nursing home revelations

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/538580-top-new-york-republicans-seek-to-oust-cuomo-other-officials-after

Excerpt:

Top New York Republicans have taken to Twitter to call for an investigation into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and other state officials following a Thursday report that a top aide admitted the government withheld the state’s nursing home coronavirus death toll. 

Several Republicans from the Empire State issued statements after the report, arguing for a probe to be launched into the government’s reported decision to withhold nursing home coronavirus data, with some going so far as to call for Cuomo to be impeached and removed from office. 

Author(s): CELINE CASTRONUOVO

Publication Date: 12 February 2021

Publication Site: The Hill

COVID Mortality: New York, Nursing Homes, and Cuomo

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://marypatcampbell.substack.com/p/covid-mortality-new-york-nursing

Graphic:

Excerpt:

I am very angry about all of this. That’s why I haven’t actually been posting about it that much.

If you think I have been annoyed by lack of attention to detail in COVID data, I am absolutely livid over the falsification of very key data, especially since it has been blatant since April 2020.

It is difficult to be appropriately analytical when one has such an emotional reaction to the messing about with data. I’ve had this happen at ma prior employer, when I realized my numbers were being messed with, and yes, falsifying data is one of the things that will make me blow my top.

Author(s): Mary Pat Campbell

Publication Date: 13 February 2021

Publication Site: STUMP

New Allegations of Cover-Up by Cuomo Over Nursing Home Virus Toll

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/nyregion/new-york-nursing-homes-cuomo.html

Excerpt:

In a conversation first reported on by the New York Post, DeRosa told a group of top lawmakers Wednesday during a call to address the nursing home situation that “basically, we froze,” after being asked over the summer for information by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice.

At the time, the governor’s office was simultaneously facing requests from the state Legislature for similar information.

“We were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, and what we start saying, was going to be used against us, and we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” DeRosa told lawmakers, according to a partial transcript obtained by The New York Times.

Author(s): McKinley, Jesse; Ferré-Sadurní, Luis.

Publication Date: 12 February 2021

Publication Site: NY Times

COVID nursing home deaths: Andrew Cuomo is running from his part in my dad’s death

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/02/11/andrew-cuomo-nursing-homes-new-york-coronavirus-covid-19-deaths-column/4448747001/

Excerpt:

Knowing Cuomo respond, “Who cares?” when speaking about the thousands of seniors who died and were not properly counted wasn’t beautiful.

Nothing about the inhumane way our seniors were treated by the Cuomo administration was beautiful. It should be criminal. 

Author(s): Tracey Alvino

Publication Date: 11 February 2021

Publication Site: USA Today

AP: Over 9,000 virus patients sent into NY nursing homes

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://apnews.com/article/new-york-andrew-cuomo-us-news-coronavirus-pandemic-nursing-homes-512cae0abb55a55f375b3192f2cdd6b5

Excerpt:

More than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients in New York state were released from hospitals into nursing homes early in the pandemic under a controversial directive that was scrapped amid criticism 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 the state health department previously released. And it raises new questions as to whether a March 25 directive from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration helped spread sickness and death among residents, a charge the state disputes.

Author(s): BERNARD CONDON and JENNIFER PELTZ

Publication Date: 12 February 2021

Publication Site: Associated Press

Cuomo aide admits they hid nursing home data so feds wouldn’t find out

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2021/02/11/cuomo-aide-admits-they-hid-nursing-home-data-from-feds/

Excerpt:

Governor Cuomo’s top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing-home death toll from COVID-19 — telling them “we froze” out of fear the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors, The Post has learned.

The stunning admission of a cover-up was made by Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa during a video conference call with state Democratic leaders in which she said the Cuomo administration had rebuffed a legislative request for the tally in August because “right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football,” according to an audio recording of the two-hour-plus meeting.

Author(s): Bernadette Hogan, Carl Campanile and Bruce Golding

Publication Date: 11 February 2021

Publication Site: NY Post

New York Reveals Another 1,516 COVID-19 Deaths in Long-Term Care Facilities

Mary Pat Campbell
New York Reveals Another 1,516 COVID-19 Deaths in Long-Term Care Facilities

Graph:

Excerpt:

The death toll in New York’s long-term care facilities jumped by another 1,516 this weekend as the Cuomo administration adjusted its reporting on adult-care facilities to include residents who died after being transferred to hospitals.

The newly disclosed deaths represented an almost eight-fold increase for assisted living and other adult-care facilities, which provide non-medical services for their elderly and disabled residents.

Author(s): Bill Hammond

Publication Date: 7 February 2021

Publication Site: Empire Center

The State’s Revised Nursing Home Death Toll Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

Mary Pat Campbell
The State’s Revised Nursing Home Death Toll Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

Excerpt:

Numbers belatedly released by the Cuomo administration last week pushed New York’s COVID-19 mortality rate in nursing homes from 35th to 13th highest in the U.S., an Empire Center analysis shows.

The new total of almost 13,000 deaths amounts to 14 percent of New York’s pre-pandemic nursing home population, which is 2 points above the national average (see chart).

Graph:

Author: Bill Hammond

Publication Date: 5 February 2021

Publication Site: Empire Center for Public Policy

NY Senate Democrats block subpoena for COVID-19 nursing home death data

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2021/02/01/ny-senate-democrats-block-subpoena-for-covid-nursing-home-data/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

Excerpt:

Democrats who control the state Senate blocked a motion Monday to subpoena records of the Cuomo administration seeking a fuller accounting of nursing home residents who died from the coronavirus.

The motion was made by Sen. Thomas O’Mara, the ranking Republican on the Investigations Committee panel during a virtual meeting

The GOP motion to compel the state Health Department to release records came just days after Attorney General Letitia James issued a blistering report that found Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his health agency withheld an accurate count of the number of nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 by some 50 percent by excluding residents who died after being take to hospitals.

Author: Carl Campanile and Bernadette Hogan

Publication Date: 1 February 2021

Publication Site: NY Post

COVID-19 and Long-Term Care: LTCI Insider

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/01/30/covid-19-and-long-term-care-ltci-insider/

Excerpt:

The impact on the nursing home industry has been catastrophic!

With occupancy rates plummeting, this industry is in deep financial trouble.

The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) conducted a survey of 953 nursing home providers across the U.S. on their financial and staffing challenges.

Two-thirds of nursing homes operators say they won’t make it another year given current operating pace due to increased COVID-19 costs.

90% of nursing homes are currently operating at a loss or less than 3% profit margin.

65% are currently operating at a loss.

Author: Margie Barrie

Publication Date: 30 January 2021

Publication Site: Think Advisor