Friday, April 09, 2021

9 April 2021: Editorial - Governor Wolf's COVID Nursing Home Policies Deserve Probe

Handling of PA nursing homes merits probe

The editors of the Altoona Mirror support an investigation of Governor Tom Wolf's COVID nursing home policies, in which COVID patients were transferred from hospitals to nursing homes to free up bed space during 2020's coronavirus pandemic.

Looking back over the past year, roughly half of the COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania have been in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

Of the 25,349 deaths in Pennsylvania, 12,945 were in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

Now state Republicans are launching a House Government Oversight Committee investigation into Wolf’s handling of this issue.

We support this investigation and believe it is overdue — we even wonder why it took so long.

People lost their lives — many died alone — and if it was because of any mishandling of the situation, their loved ones deserve to know. Indeed, the public has a right to know.

“So many never got to say goodbye,” said state Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga County. “We cannot bring these lives back. We cannot fix the wrong that was done. But we can learn from this and make sure it never happens again.”

With a legislative probe into Governor Wolf's policies now beginning, let's recap where Pennsylvania appears in the COVID nursing homes scandals timeline:

If you have time to follow the link for just one of these stories, the primer is the best overall introduction to Pennsylvania's version of New York Governor Cuomo's COVID nursing home scandals.

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