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Nursing Home Workers – The Unsung Heroes
of the COVID-19 Crisis: When New York
State Abandoned the Nursing Home Industry
By Dana Walsh Sivak, Esq., Senior Associate, Genser Cona Elder Law
Nursing homes battling on the front
lines of the COVID-19 pandemic fell
victim to a series of mixed messages and
misguided policies issued by the highest levels
of New York’s State leadership, resulting
in catastrophic loss of life among elderly
New Yorkers. Nonetheless, nursing home
workers rose to the challenge of caring for
their residents in the face of insurmountable
challenges in their time of most dire need.
There is growing outrage among New
Yorkers as the numbers of COVID-19-
related deaths in nursing homes, particularly
among low-income and minority individuals,
become known, and questions are raised as
to why policies were enacted that directly
placed these vulnerable individuals in nursing
homes at increased risk of becoming infected
with the deadly virus. From the outset, it
was clear that elderly individuals and those
with pre-existing medical conditions and
compromised immune systems had the
highest risk of suffering life-threatening or
fatal complications from the virus.
When New York became the epicenter of America’s COVID-19
outbreak, the government primarily focused on providing
hospitals with the support and equipment they needed to care
for sick New Yorkers, leaving nursing homes largely on their own.
When New York became the epicenter
of America’s COVID-19 outbreak, the
government primarily focused on providing
hospitals with the support and equipment
they needed to care for sick New Yorkers,
leaving nursing homes largely on their own.
Nursing home operators struggled to locate
and procure personal protective equipment
(PPE) for their staff, often at inflated prices,
and address staffing shortages resulting from
the increased needs of their residents and
30 Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Summer 2020
employees falling ill themselves. Without
any visitors allowed into facilities, health
care workers had to field all of the calls from
concerned family members and provide
the only “hand to hold” for residents fearful
of contracting or dying from the virus.
Unfortunately, health care workers who cared
for these residents over months or years at
their facilities were forced to watch them die,
alone, often bearing witness to tearful good
byes with their families over video calls once
nothing more could be done for them.
This emotional toll for nursing home workers
is hardest to bear, knowing that more could
have been done to support the nursing
homes in their efforts to save lives had proper
policies been put into place and consistent
guidance issued by the State. Nursing homes
were provided conflicting guidance from the
state and federal governments regarding how
soon an employee could return to work after
testing positive for COVID-19, resulting in
some returning to work while potentially
contagious. Limited testing capacity and
delayed results prevented nursing homes
from knowing whether residents and
employees had COVID-19, further impacting
their ability to prevent the spread of the
illness within their walls.
The most egregious failure, however, occurred
on March 25, 2020, as COVID-19 was
spreading rapidly throughout the state, when
the Department of Health issued a directive
to nursing homes that “[n]o resident shall
be denied re-admission or admission to the
[nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or
suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.” By placing
residents with COVID-19 in nursing homes
– described by Governor Cuomo as “the
optimum feeding ground for this virus” – the
State’s directive overwhelmed nursing homes
and created a perfect storm for the virus’
spread to other residents.
(See Nursing Home Workers on page 31)