70% of Wuhan Virus Deaths in Pennsylvania Come From Nursing Homes
Jose Nino
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Earlier last week, the Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health revealed that her 95-year-old mother was moved from a nursing home facility into a hotel.
This came at a time when the state government was ordering these facilities to accept patients who tested positive with the Wuhan virus.
This policy was issued on March 18 and specified that retirement homes “must continue to accept new admissions and receive readmissions for current residents who have been discharged from the hospital who are stable,” include residents who have caught the Wuhan virus. The policy was created to “alleviate the increasing burden in the acute care settings.”
The rule may have a played role in creating a significant death toll in the state’s elderly care institutions. The bulk of the deaths in the Keystone State took place in nursing homes, over 2,400 of the state’s approximately 4,000 deaths.
Levine admitted this on May 12, 2020 while talking to Pennsylvania media, declaring that “she and her sister complied with their mother’s request to move from a personal care home to another location,” according to a report from the Allentown Morning Call report.
The admission does raise questions about state health officials being potentially aware of the devastating threat that the Wuhan virus presented to nursing homes even when they ordered said facilities to accept Wuhan virus patients.
Various states have been tackling with Wuhan virus outbreaks at nursing homes. The data show that the Wuhan virus disproportionately hurts older and sicker individuals, two groups that are over-represented at care facilities across the country.
New York State has witnessed significant numbers of care facility deaths during the past several months, which likely caused Governor Andrew Cuomo to rescind the state’s previous directive, which is similar to Pennsylvania’s, that nursing homes would be mandated to accept Wuhan virus patients.
Daniel Payne of Just The News highlighted that “Emails that surfaced last month showed state officials refusing one nursing home’s request to transfer coronavirus patients into emergency care facilities.”
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