You are reading

Ulrich Wants Cuomo’s COVID-19 Nursing Home Policies Investigated

Council Member Erich Ulrich (NYC Council, John McCarten via Flickr)

May 26, 2020 By Michael Dorgan

Queens Council Member Eric Ulrich has called for an investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ulrich, who represents a district in southern Queens, says Cuomo’s ill-judged nursing home mandates contributed to the alarmingly high number of deaths at those facilities.

The councilman penned a May 22 letter to Speaker Corey Johnson and Committee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Ritchie Torres calling for a city council investigation.

Cuomo, according to Ulrich, has resisted calls for a state investigation into the matter and the city should instead start its own probe.

The issue largely stems from Cuomo’s March 25 directive that required nursing home operators to re-admit recovering COVID-19 residents back to their facilities. Many critics argue that these sick patients infected the other residents.

“Governor Andrew Cuomo failed New Yorkers early on with his senseless plan to place patients back in nursing homes, even after they tested positive for coronavirus,” Ulrich wrote.

“It was a deadly decision. Regrettably, the virus spread like wildfire,” he said.

Cuomo has been under fire for the directive which critics argue added to the number of fatalities at nursing homes.

Governor Andrew Cuomo holds a COVID-19 press briefing (Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)

More than 5,800 New York seniors have died from COVID-19 in nursing homes or other long term care facilities across the state since the outbreak began, according to Ulrich.

Cuomo has maintained that he was following federal guidelines from the CDC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services when he made the March 25 directive.

The governor revised the policy on May 10 and now requires nursing home residents to test negative before they are allowed back into their facility.

Nonetheless, Ulrich said that the governor must be held accountable for his early actions and the city must get to the bottom of the nursing home mandates.

“Every family member and loved one of a nursing home victim deserves to know the facts,” Ulrich wrote. “We must leave no stone unturned.”

The Health Department has not released figures on how many recovering COVID-19 patients were readmitted into nursing homes but a recent report by the Associated Press put the number at 4,500 people across the state.

Ulrich also blasted the governor’s appearance on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time recently as “equally disgraceful.”

“Instead of talking about how and why he made these decisions, Governor Cuomo and his brother joked about the size of his nose,” Ulrich wrote.

“It was a news segment so unserious that you have to wonder if they were accidentally reading a script from Saturday Night Live.”

email the author: [email protected]

One Comment

Click for Comments 
Nursing home staff

Wealthy private nursing home owners being paid far more for taking in the Covid-19 positive patients, Health Commissioner Zucker strongly recommending this policy of nursing homes taking these Covid patients to Cuomo, using the excuse that there won’t be enough hospital beds if he does not mandate this insane policy, scaring him. Lots of nursing home owner money under the table and straight into Zucker’s pockets, …as usual. Investigate that.

Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

MTA seizes 19 ‘ghost’ cars registered to toll violators at Queens Midtown Tunnel on Monday

Two days before the MTA Board approved the controversial congestion pricing plan for Manhattan on Wednesday, the agency cracked down on persistent toll violators at the Queens Midtown Tunnel in Long Island City.

MTA Bridges and Tunnels seized 19 vehicles registered to persistent scofflaws on Monday and issued 81 summonses and confiscated two fraudulent incense plates. The MTA noted that the scofflaws accounted for approximately $483,000 in combined unpaid tolls and fees. One of the top persistent toll violators from the targeted enforcement owed nearly $76,000 in tolls and fees.