MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-06-26 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] =?utf-8?q?Gov=2E_Cuomo_can=E2=80=99t_dodge_acc?=
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Gov. Cuomo can’t dodge accountability for nursing home deaths forever
I think, despite this artice, Coumo can dodge the fact that he killed
thousands of elderly patients and destroyed the conomy unecessarily...
unless YOU speak out
Our investigation centers on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision, on March 25,
to force nursing homes to accept known COVID-positive patients while
also prohibiting homes from even testing patients for COVID-19 prior to
admission. This policy, which remained in place for more than six weeks,
likely contributed significantly to the thousands of elderly deaths in
New York nursing homes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gov. Cuomo can’t dodge accountability for nursing home deaths forever
By Steve Scalise
4-6 minutes
June 24, 2020 | 2:30pm | Updated June 24, 2020 | 3:31pm
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Gov. Cuomo can’t dodge accountability for nursing home deaths forever
The Cuomo administration is under investigation for its decision to
mandate that nursing homes accept known COVID-positive patients while
also prohibiting homes from even testing patients for COVID-19 prior to
admission. Don Pollard
The novel-coronavirus death toll in New York’s nursing homes is tragic.
More than 6,000 American seniors died of COVID-19 in nursing homes and
long-term-care facilities across the Empire State, yet grieving families
have no answers for how this happened or who is responsible.
As the ranking member of the US House of Representatives Select
Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, I am charged with investigating
“preparedness for and response to the coronavirus crisis.” By all
accounts, New York’s handling of the crisis in its nursing homes has
been a colossal failure.
The failure demands investigation. We have to protect against similar
tragedies in the future.
Our investigation centers on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision, on March 25,
to force nursing homes to accept known COVID-positive patients while
also prohibiting homes from even testing patients for COVID-19 prior to
admission. This policy, which remained in place for more than six weeks,
likely contributed significantly to the thousands of elderly deaths in
New York nursing homes.
New Yorkers deserve accountability and transparency. Cuomo, who is
ultimately responsible, has been neither accountable nor transparent.
The governor has deflected responsibility for this mistake to any number
of other entities, including, bizarrely, the New York Post. More
recently, Cuomo blamed President Trump, saying, “Why did the state do
that with COVID patients in nursing homes? It’s because the state
followed President Trump’s CDC guidance.” PolitiFact rated this
statement “Mostly False.”
Federal guidance from weeks before Cuomo’s fateful decision made clear
that nursing homes should admit individuals from hospitals where
COVID-19 was present only if the nursing home was prepared to follow
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantining guidance.
Many nursing homes in New York weren’t prepared to accept COVID-positive
patients, yet Cuomo ignored federal guidelines and forced them to accept
contagious patients anyway. We need to know why.
Other states specifically prohibited nursing homes from accepting
COVID-positive patients, which led to much better outcomes. Florida, a
retirement state with more nursing-home patients than New York, saw
nearly 5,000 fewer nursing-home deaths than did the Empire State.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned COVID-positive patients from being
reintroduced into nursing homes early on in the crisis. Other states got
it right — what went wrong in New York? New Yorkers who lost their
parents and grandparents are rightly furious and want answers.
Our subcommittee sent letters to Cuomo demanding transparency. In
response, the governor’s public-relations flacks attacked me and my
colleagues as “craven political hacks” who are “apparently seeking some
sort of election-year boost and to misdirect attention away from the
oversight committee’s investigation into the federal pandemic response.”
I should remind Cuomo that I am elected in Louisiana. Many of my
constituents, blessedly, have no idea who the governor of New York is.
As for my efforts to “misdirect attention away from the oversight
committee’s investigation,” I should remind Cuomo that, as a
subcommittee of that very same Oversight Committee, we are explicitly
charged with investigating his failures in New York.
We are working on behalf of New Yorkers and Americans everywhere. Cuomo
has deflected and evaded us at every possible opportunity. But the truth
will come out, with or without his cooperation.
As our country faces a potentially deadly second wave in the coming
months, we must learn from the serious mistakes in our past. Every day
he delays the inevitable, Cuomo hinders our future response, while
pouring salt on the wounds of grieving families in his state.
Steve Scalise (R-La.) serves as the ranking member of the House of
Representatives’ Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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