House Republicans have written five Democratic governors asking for information about policies mandating nursing homes and long-term care facilities admit patients with the novel coronavirus, which the representatives said “likely contributed to the thousands of elderly deaths.”
All five GOP members of the House Oversight Committee, led by ranking member Steve Scalise of Louisiana, signed letters to Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania.
The letters ask the governors to provide “the science and information used to inform your decision,” RealClearPolitics.com reported.
All five governors or state officials issued orders requiring nursing homes to accept or admit patients regardless of their COVID-19 status. More than 45,000 nursing home patients and staff have died from the flu-like COVID-19 respiratory illness, according to The Associated Press.
The Wall Street Journal reported more than 50,000.
The AP number represents nearly 40 percent, while the Journal’s account for nearly 43 percent, of the more than 116,000 deaths from the disease, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
“We write seeking information, at a granular level, about the science and information used to inform your decision to mandate nursing homes and long-term care facilities admit untested and contagious COVID-19 patients from hospitals,” states the letter to Cuomo.
“This decision likely contributed to the thousands of elderly deaths in New York State.”
No Democrat signed any of the letters to any of the governors, Scalise said.
Scalise said the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on March 13 instructed states to allow infected patients with the virus only at facilities that could follow Centers for Disease Control quarantine guidance.
“Under no circumstances should a hospital discharge a patient to a nursing home that is not prepared to take care of those patient’s needs,” the letters quote CMS Administrator Seema Verma as warning. The guidance was issued because the elderly are at higher risk of contracting the virus.
However, New York posted its directive mandating the admission of patients regardless of COVID-19 status on March 25; Pennsylvania did the same on March 18; California’s order came March 30; New Jersey a day later; and Michigan on April 15. Michigan’s order remains in force, RealClearPolitics said.
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