Cuomo still stands by coronavirus nursing home order despite death toll
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday yet again doubled down on his decision to send coronavirus patients to nursing homes from hospitals — despite it potentially factoring in to more than 5,000 deaths.
The governor reiterated a March 25 health department mandate that required all nursing homes to accept residents who tested positive for COVID-19.
“So the choice is, leave a person in a hospital bed for two weeks until they test negative, or send them to a nursing home that can handle it and quarantine them and isolate them,” Cuomo said in an interview with Jay Oliver on Long Island News Radio.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“The nursing home is a better choice for that senior person, especially when you’re in a time when you need the hospital beds for people who are going to die without a ventilator.”
Cuomo has come under fire for his administration’s mandate that nursing homes take in COVID-19 afflicted patients, which resulted in roughly 5,800 confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths.
An analysis by USA Today found that more than 40,600 residents in long-term care facilities across the nation died of COVID-19.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}