12 June 2020: National Attention for Cuomo Nursing Home Scandal - What Guidance Did the CDC Provide States for Nursing Homes?

Rep. Steve Scalise questions Dem governors on decision to send coronavirus patients to nursing homes

The move to initiate an independent, federal investigation of what happened in New York's nursing homes and other states' assisted living facilities that copied Governor Cuomo's policies is gaining some steam. This article is also noteworthy in that Representative Scalise updates the death tolls for several states:

"The decision of several governors to essentially mandate COVID positive patients go back to their nursing homes ended up being a death sentence," Scalise said in a briefing for the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. "New York has suffered 6,318 deaths in nursing homes. New Jersey, 6,327. Compare that to Florida -- a retirement state -- 1,454. On a per capita basis, nursing homes deaths in New York are 500 percent higher than Florida and New Jersey is 1,120 percent higher than Florida."

Our analysis of what happened in New Jersey's nursing homes and assisted living facilities is here.

Another interesting note:

Cuomo has defended his directive as in line with guidance from the Trump administration and notes that other states did the same thing. But Scalise noted that the Trump administration changed its guidance in mid-March to caution against sending coronavirus patients to nursing homes "not prepared" to handle the disease. New York's policy remained in place until May 10.

Here is the CDC's original guidance for nursing homes from 13 March 2020. Here is a copy of the guidance that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is the federal agency that oversees nursing homes, issued on 17 March 2020, which explicitly states the guidance:

What to Do with Residents with Confirmed or Suspected COVID-19 Diagnoses

CMS’s guidance also instructs nursing homes with residents suspected of having COVID-19 to contact their local health department and transfer the affected resident to a hospital if they do not have an airborne infection isolation room and the symptoms warrant such transfer. Nursing homes that are asked to accept residents diagnosed with COVID-19 from a hospital may accept the residents as long as the facility can follow then-current CDC guidance for Transmission-Based Precautions. This guidance is changing rapidly as the CDC learns more about the COVID-19 virus and adapts protocols accordingly. Facilities are advised to continue normal admissions, and if possible, dedicate a unit/wing to serve as a step-down unit where such residents remain for 14 days with no symptoms for any resident coming or returning from hospitals where a case of COVID-19 is/was present.

The Cuomo administration removed the discretion of nursing homes had for accepting known coronavirus-infected patients in its infamous 25 March 2020 directive, disregarding the guidance issued by the federal agency that directly oversees nursing homes.