(Reuters) – New York state on Sunday announced new coronavirus-safety measures to better protect nursing home residents, who are highly vulnerable to the respiratory illness and account for a large share of the nearly 80,000 Americans who have died from it.
The effort to step up infection-prevention measures at New York’s nursing homes and adult care facilities came as the state hardest hit by the pandemic has registered a downward trajectory in its daily overall COVID-19 death toll and hospitalizations.
Numbers are on the rise elsewhere across the country, however, as dozens of states have moved in recent weeks to relax business restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected at least 1.3 million Americans.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said he has ordered all nursing home staff to be tested at least twice a week for the virus and is barring hospitals from discharging any COVID-19 patient to a nursing facility until that individual tests negative for infection.
If a nursing home is deemed unable to provide proper treatment and support for a recovering resident, that person is to be transferred to the care of the state, which Cuomo said now has ample hospital bed capacity for such patients.
“Our No. 1 priority is protecting people in nursing homes,” Cuomo said. “It’s where it (COVID-19) feeds.”
Elderly individuals and people with underlying chronic health conditions are among those at highest risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19, the lung disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Nursing homes, long-term care facilities and assisted-living centers have registere