editorial
Nursing home deaths during COVID-19
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BRONX TIMES R 12 EPORTER, MAY 8-14, 2020 BTR
BY COUNCILMAN REVEREND RUBEN DIAZ
“God didn’t do that, fate didn’t do that,
destiny didn’t do that”, but your actions
did do that Governor Cuomo: The
Staggering Number of New York’s Nursing
Home COVID-19 Deaths happened because
of your policies and under your watch.
You should know that responsibility for
the staggering number of COVID-19 deaths
in New York’s nursing homes can only lay
at the feet of Governor Andrew Cuomo.
While earlier this month Governor Cuomo
refused to credit God for the reduction in
statewide COVID-19 numbers, let’s hope
that he won’t try now to blame God for his
nursing home mismanagement and thedreadful
consequences brought upon
them.
You should know that an editorial titled
“The fi x is obviously in on Cuomo’s ‘investigation’
of nursing-home horrors” in
the April 25, 2020 print edition of the New
York Post states the following:
“News that Team Cuomo ignored warnings
about the nursing-home disaster only
confi rms that the gov.’s call for an investigation
is pure defl ection. He’s trying to
make care facility owners the fall guys for
the state’s choices.
…. The real investigation should be into
why Zucker insisted on sending coronavirus
positive patients to nursing homes,
when it’s been clear from the start that the
elderly are most at risk from the virus.
The same New York Post page contains
scathing Letters to the Editor’s section
under the title: Cuomo’s Callous Response
to Nursing Home Deaths. THE
ISSUE: Gov. Cuomo’s comment that it
wasn’t the state’s job to provide PPE to
nursing homes. Heartbreaking letters include
the following:
“Nursing homes didn’t solicit coronavirus
patients. Cuomo ordered these facilities
to take them. Overwhelmed and
ill-equipped to protect a highly vulnerable
population, coronavirus nursing-home
deaths soared.
“I was shocked to see how seemingly
callous and dismissive an elected offi -
cial could be, especially since some 3,500
nursing-home residents have lost their
lives. The governor’s job should be to protect
the elderly and those compromised because
of underlying health issues.”
“It’s a disgrace what New York did by
forcing nursing homes to take COVID-19
patients that have been treated and released
from hospitals. We’re told that people
who are elderly with underlying conditions
are susceptible to the virus. That’s
someone’s mother or father in these facilities.
The state is sacrifi cing them.”
My dear reader, the blame for these
alarming deaths should not be placed on
the shoulders of the frontline workers in
our nursing homes. Most people who work
in nursing homes do so out of a real sense
of purpose and mercy to help our vulnerable
elderly in need of care and attention.
Nursing home workers are exhausted. In
too many cases they remain unprotected
and without the proper PPE equipment.
They deserve our heartfelt support and
prayers.
It is important for you to know that in
the most recent State Budget, Governor
Cuomo included within it a section packaged
within the Emergency or Disaster
Treatment Protection Act to shield health
care facilities or professionals from liability,
civil or criminal, for harm and damages
as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
It is outrageous to know that after statutorily
shielding nursing homes from liability,
which Governor Cuomo must have
had in mind, he then mandated hospitals to
send COVID-19 patients to unprepared and
understaffed nursing homes. While these
nursing homes in the past would have declined
to accept infected patients in their
facilities, now with immunity these same
nursing homes could accept infected patients
without liability concerns.
Ladies and gentlemen, as we continue
to grieve the loss of so many of our loved
ones in nursing homes, as part of our democracy
we must continue to hold our
elected offi cials accountable.
Aside from taking curtain calls, Governor
Cuomo in his own words must take responsibility
and admit that “God didn’t do
that, fate didn’t do that, destiny didn’t do
that”, but his own actions, and schemes
did do that.
I am Councilman Reverend Rubén Díaz,
and this is what you should know.
Photo courtesy of the Gjonaj campaign
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