HIGHER ED TODAY 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 BRONX TIMES R 4     EPORTER, APRIL 24-30, 2020 BTR 
 Ocasio-Cortez wants COVID nursing  
 homes released to the public 
 Representative  Alexandria  Ocasio-Cortez  
 speaks  during  a  campaign  rally  for  Senator  
 Bernie  Sanders  at  Venice  Beach  in  Los  
 Angeles, California, U.S., December 21, 2019. 
   REUTERåS/Monica Almeida 
 government can’t adequately respond and  
 protect older Americans and individuals  
 with disabilities who rely on these facilities. 
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 BY JASON COHEN 
 Elected offi cials are clamoring for coronavirus  
 cases at nursing homes and longterm  
 care  facilities  nationwide  to  be  published, 
  as nursing home deaths represent  
 25 percent of all COVID-19 fatalities in New  
 York. 
 Last week, Congresswoman Alexandria  
 Ocasio-Cortez joined 77 of her House  
 colleagues in sending a letter to the Trump  
 administration  asking  them  to  work  with  
 states, localities and private labs to collect  
 and publicly report data on the number of  
 long-term care residents affected by the coronavirus, 
  including cases and fatalities. 
 According to the New York State Department  
 of Health, as of April 19, 3,448 people  
 have died from COVID-19 at nursing homes  
 and long term care facilities, including 556  
 in the Bronx. Governor Cuomo has issued  
 an executive order requiring that the NYS  
 DOH-licensed facility shall notify family  
 members or next of kin for all residents if  
 any resident tests positive for COVID-19, or  
 if any resident suffers a COVID-19 related  
 death, within 24 hours of such positive test  
 result or death. 
 “Without understanding the scope and  
 impact of the pandemic within long-term  
 care facilities, the administration and the  
 congress lack essential information to adequately  
 respond and protect older Americans  
 and individuals with disabilities who  
 rely on these facilities to survive and are  
 particularly at risk for COVID-19,” Ocasio- 
 Cortez said. 
 The only federal data available is the  
 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s  
 March 30 estimate that at least 400 long-term  
 care facilities have COVID-19 cases. All information  
 has come from journalists who  
 are reporting at least 3,000 nursing home  
 residents have died and that at least 2,300 facilities  
 across over 37 states have cases. However, 
  the actual numbers are likely higher. 
 In the letter, Ocasio-Cortez and her colleagues  
 emphasized the specifi c vulnerability  
 of older Americans and individuals with  
 disabilities living in long-term care facilities. 
  They stressed that the CDC is failing to  
 collect and publicly report data on the number  
 of residents and long-term care facilities  
 that have been affected by COVID-19. Without  
 understanding the impact it has having  
 on those places, the offi cials  said  that  the  
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 Before COVID-19, infections already  
 caused as many as 3 million illnesses and  
 almost 400,000 deaths in nursing homes and  
 other long-term care facilities each year. 
 “Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of  
 CDC’s National Center for Immunization  
 and Respiratory Diseases, has said that  
 ‘people who are higher risk for severe disease  
 and death are those who are older  
 and with underlying health conditions,”  
 the letter states. “Publicizing this vulnerability  
 is necessary but not suffi cient.  It  
 must be complemented by data collection  
 around how COVID-19 is spreading in congregate  
 communities where these individuals  
 are heavily concentrated and where  
 history suggests they are at particular  
 risk.” 
 The letter closed by urging the government  
 not to leave older Americans, individuals  
 with disabilities, veterans and all  
 those living in nursing homes behind in  
 their coronavirus response. 
 “Our  national  attempts  to  slow,  contain, 
  and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus  
 must not ignore older Americans,  
 individuals with disabilities, veterans and  
 all those living in nursing homes and congregate  
 living settings,” the letter said.  
 “We must not leave any person behind.” 
 The steps we take to guide The City University  
 of New York through the COVID-19  
 crisis are born out of CUNY’s historic mission  
 to support our students, promote equity  
 and make sure the most vulnerable are not  
 excluded from the learning process.  
  We see who the coronavirus is attacking  
 in  disproportionate  numbers  —  it’s  those  
 who  come from our most  diverse  neighborhoods, 
  the very communities that form the  
 backbone of this University.   
  The principled imperative to make sure  
 that no one is left behind has set the framework  
 for CUNY’s decision-making from the  
 moment I assumed the role of Chancellor. 
   As  I  approach  my  one-year  anniversary  
 on May  1,  I  couldn’t  be  prouder  of  the  
 work we have done over the last 12 months to  
 honor the founding values of this University,  
 a template of opportunity and inclusion that  
 led us most recently to announce the Chancellor’s  
 Emergency Relief Fund on April 8 to  
 provide an urgent lifeline to CUNY students  
 facing financial strain amid COVID-19. 
  Launched with  $3.25 million  including  
 $1 million each from the Carroll and Milton  
 Petrie Foundation and the James and Judith  
 K.  Dimon  Foundation,  and  $500,000  from  
 Robin Hood, the Fund has enabled us to begin  
 issuing grants of $500 each to thousands  
 of  CUNY  students  in  the  first  CUNY-wide  
 student assistance program of its kind. The  
 first checks were delivered this week. (Individual  
 contributions can be made at cuny. 
 edu/emergencyfund. 
 With  support  from  Governor  Cuomo,  
 CUNY  last  month  invested  $12  million  to  
 quickly purchase thousands of laptops and  
 tablets, without which a sizable number  
 of our students would have been unable to  
 make the transition to distance learning and  
 move forward with their courses.  
   We  have  broadened  CUNY’s  record  of  
 public service from participating in relief  
 work  in  Puerto  Rico  to  collecting  and  distributing  
 vital  personal  protective  equipment  
 for health workers and helping to create  
 face shields from campus 3D printers.  
   We continue to fill our ranks with pioneering  
 leaders,  individuals  like  S.  David  
 Wu, the incoming president of Baruch,  
 who will be the first Asian-American college  
 president  at  CUNY.  He  will  be  joined  
 by Robin L. Garrell, newly appointed president  
 of the Graduate Center; Frank H. Wu,  
 tapped  to  lead Queens  College  and  CUNY’s  
 second  Asian-American  college  president;  
 and  Daisy  Cocco  De  Filippis,  who  will  be  
 interim president of Hostos Community College  
 and the first Dominican woman to serve  
 as a CUNY college president. I am also proud  
 to have built a cabinet of tested leaders representative  
 of the City we serve.  
  As I joined a video conference on April  
 13 to cheer the inaugural graduating class  
 of  the  CUNY  School  of Medicine,  I  was  reminded  
 of the school’s mission to address  
 health  care  disparities  in  underserved  areas. 
   
  These newly minted MDs are a perfect  
 match for the moment as they graduate early  
 and embark on their careers at a time of unprecedented  
 demand, a shining embodiment  
 of the University’s mission to safeguard the  
 most vulnerable while creating social mobility  
 for our graduates. 
  I also have no doubt that the road to recovery  
 of New York City’s economy and public  
 health goes through CUNY. I’m proud to  
 see, for example, CUNY staff already working  
 with  government  and  health  leaders,  
 taking  steps  to  train and prepare  the  thousands  
 of  social  tracers  we  will  need  in  the  
 months to come. 
  It all underscores a truth about CUNY,  
 which I knew to be true 12 months ago when  
 I had the privilege to become chancellor, and  
 continues to guide me today: The ground beneath  
 us may shift, but our commitment to  
 the equity, inclusion and excellence needed  
 to  sustain  New  York  City’s  standing  as  a  
 world-class city will never, ever waver. 
  
  
  
         
  
  
 
				
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