Herd immunity, the bar lowers

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Andrew Cuomo

stated on May 20, 2020 in a news conference:

“Why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes? It’s because the state followed President Trump’s CDC guidance.”

barely-true

Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives a coronavirus update on May 20, 2020, in the State Capitol. At left is Mariah Kennedy Cuomo. (courtesy Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives a coronavirus update on May 20, 2020, in the State Capitol. At left is Mariah Kennedy Cuomo. (courtesy Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives a coronavirus update on May 20, 2020, in the State Capitol. At left is Mariah Kennedy Cuomo. (courtesy Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office)1024×584 114 KB

Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives a coronavirus update on May 20, 2020, in the State Capitol. At left is Mariah Kennedy Cuomo. (courtesy Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office)

Jill Terreri Ramos

By Jill Terreri RamosJune 13, 2020

New York’s nursing home policy was not fully in line with CDC

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

  • The Cuomo administration issued an advisory March 25 that stated that nursing homes "must comply with the expedited receipt of residents” coming from hospitals, regardless of whether they are infected with the new coronavirus.
  • The CDC warned nursing homes to keep COVID-19 out of their facilities and said nursing homes can admit coronavirus patients, but only if they are able to properly care for them.
  • The Cuomo administration says that regulations that predate the pandemic require nursing homes to admit only those patients for which they can care. However, in the month following the March 25 advisory, nursing home operators felt that they had no choice but to accept these patients.

See the sources for this fact-check

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, facing criticism for how the state handled COVID-19 in nursing homes, has said his administration followed guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Approximately 6,000 nursing home residents in New York have died from the virus, and Cuomo was asked on May 20 about calls for a federal probe into how the state handled nursing homes, and in particular, a March advisory that sent COVID-19 patients from hospitals to nursing homes.

"I’m not going to get into the political back and forth, but anyone who wants to ask, why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes? It’s because the state followed President Trump’s CDC guidance," Cuomo said.

Is Cuomo correct? We looked at federal guidance at the time of the state’s March 25 order, as well as other state Health Department actions at that time.

CDC guidance

"Before the state Health Department sent its controversial March 25 advisory, which has since been withdrawn, the CDC released guidance for nursing homes.

The CDC cited two “key factors” to consider when deciding whether to discharge a patient with COVID-19 to a long-term care facility, said Kristen Nordlund, a CDC spokesperson. First, is the patient medically ready for discharge to a long-term care facility? And second, is the selected long-term care facility able to safely care for a patient recovering from the virus by implementing all recommended infection control procedures? These directives were in place on or before [March 23]"(https://web.archive.org/web/20200324163418/https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/disposition-hospitalized-patients.html),

This article is about NY but shows when the guidelines were in place 23 Mar. Over a week before NJ put their own guidelines in place 31 Mar.