Scalise: Democrat Governors Must Answer for Nursing Home Deaths

Rep. Steve Scalise said Wednesday he's demanding answers from five Democrat governors about why they ignored protocol and forced COVID-19 patients into nursing homes. 

"We're still trying to get information, but 40% of all the nursing home deaths in America came down to 5 states who violated and contradicted the guidelines that were out and very clear that told states how to properly handle nursing (home) patients who were COVID positive and most of those states,  45 of those states followed the guideline, Republican and Democrat governors alike," the Louisiana Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."

However, Scalise said he's sending letters to Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York; Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan; Phil Murphy, New Jersey; Gavin Newsom, California; and Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania  to find out why they "chose to go a different direction, a dangerous and a deadly direction, that ended up killing thousands of nursing homes patients unnecessarily."

"Why won't they give us the disclosure of the patient information that they were giving," said Scalise. "All of a sudden when we started discovering this they clammed up and not letting the public see what those numbers really are."

Scalise said back in March the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidelines that said if a nursing home sent a patient to a hospital and that person tested positive for coronavirus, he or she couldn't be brought back into the home unless there was a way to be isolated and cared for. 

"Eighty percent of the nursing homes got this right," said Scalise. "Five states decided they are going to do their own thing and they forced the nursing homes to take back the patient. In New York, the governor issued an order (that) prohibited the nursing homes from even testing COVID-positive patients."

Scalise said he's heard from families in many states who appreciate that someone is looking into the issue, but "so many of these should not have happened."

• 43 Percent of US Virus Deaths Occurred in Long-Term Facilities
• 5 Dem Govs Called to Answer for Nursing Home Mandates