NY Investigating Nursing Homes For Coronavirus Violations

NEW YORK, NY — The New York Department of Health and the state Attorney General are investigating nursing homes for potential violations of executive orders requiring communication with families on deaths and test results associated with the new coronavirus outbreak. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the investigation at his daily briefing Thursday.

When asked by a reporter what nursing home facilities should have done differently when state regulators released new guidelines on treating patients with the COVID-19 disease, Cuomo said they should have followed the rules. Nursing homes that were unable to transfer a patient to another facility, they were required to inform the Department of Health, which would undertake the effort.

"The rule says if you can't provide adequate care to a patient, you must transfer the patient," he said. "Period."

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When asked whether nursing homes objected to the policy, Cuomo said they had no right to object.

"That is the rule and that is the regulation and they have to comply with it," he said. "The regulation is basic common sense. If you can't provide adequate care, you can't have the patient in your facility. And that's your basic fiduciary obligation. I would say ethical obligation. And it's also your legal obligation."

The investigation comes after data released by state health officials listed individual nursing homes with five or more deaths. At least 1,109 nursing home residents died from the virus in New York, including 123 in Suffolk County and 122 in Nassau County. New York City saw 680 deaths.

It also comes after weeks of pleas by families asking for across-the-board testing at Peconic Landing, a retirement community in Greenport where cases of the new coronavirus have been reported and caused nine deaths. The facility recently said it had ramped up testing.

New York saw 438 deaths overnight of the COVID-19 disease, which is caused by the virus. The overall death toll climbed Thursday to 15,500.

Cuomo also announced preliminary results of a state survey aimed at calculating the infection rate. A sample of 3,000 people at retailers across the state found an infection rate of about 14 percent, indicating the coronavirus death rate could be lower than previously predicted at 0.5 percent. As many as 2.7 million people could have been infected statewide, he said.

The survey showed gaps in infection rates by region and race, with many more people in New York City and Long Island having the antibodies than elsewhere in the state.

On Long Island, 16.7 percent of the respondents tested positive for the disease, according to weighted results, while New York City saw 21.2 percent. In Westchester and Rockland counties, however, 11.7 percent of respondents tested positive. And in the rest of the state, just 3.6 percent of people tested showed they'd had the disease.

When it comes to race, 22.1 percent of people who identified as black had the antibodies. That number was 22.5 percent for people who identified as Latino or Hispanic, and 22.8 percent for people who identified as multi-ethnic, none or other.

On the other side, 11.7 percent people who identified as Asian had the antibodies, and just 9.1 percent of people who identified as white had them.

The sample showed people of all ages can get the virus.

About 8 percent of adults between 18 and 24 had the antibodies — the smallest share of any age group tested — while 16.7 percent of adults between 45 and 54 years indicated they had the virus.

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