In January, a report by the New York attorney general revealed that Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration deliberately underestimated deaths in nursing homes in the state by more than 50%. Since Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has sought to emulate his partner in the north in almost all COVID-19 policies and strategies, it is not unlikely to ask whether Pennsylvania’s long-term care deaths have also been deliberately underestimated.
In fact, in September, Spotlight Pennsylvania reported that weekly reports released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health were constantly missing out on death and case data from more than 100 of the state’s 693 nursing homes.
Let us also not forget last summer, when dozens of county coroners questioned and refuted the COVID-19 death figures reported by the Wolf government. For example, the most recent weekly report on March 10 shows that 138 facilities are still showing “no data” for several COVID-19 deaths.
It took courage for the New York attorney general to investigate his own administration’s policies and reveal the underestimation of reported deaths. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro turned his attention to investigating facilities that were forced into a bad position to begin with.
In May, the attorney general said: “We will hold criminal wards and caregivers criminally responsible if they do not provide adequate care for our loved ones.” Still, Shapiro refuses to investigate the Wolf government’s decision-making and the accuracy of reported deaths.
In March 2020, Wolf faced a crucial decision in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines for long-term care facilities for all 50 states. It is worth mentioning, however, that “orientation” is the important word here and was not a “guideline” for each governor.
The CDC guidance of March 13 stated that nursing homes “should” admit any individuals they would normally admit (with or without COVID-19). But I didn’t say that they “he must” admit these individuals.
The governors of 45 of the 50 states followed the scientific information and rejected the idea of sending patients sick with COVID-19 to the most vulnerable population. Still, the governors of five states – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Michigan and California – foolishly and recklessly caused their respective health secretaries to issue guidelines to send patients back to long-term care institutions. , unleashing a plague among our elderly.
For Pennsylvania, this catastrophic decision was made before many of the other states. On March 18, arguably the biggest scam that denies the science of our state’s history, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine issued the now infamous guideline for long-term care institutions to accept COVID-19 positive residents. back from hospitals.
It is tragically ironic that the same people who defend the mantra “believe in science” completely ignore their own buzzword. The data was clear before the March 18 directive that individuals over 65 and those with underlying health problems were at the highest risk of serious illness and death. The Wolf administration was aware of this and still made the disastrous decision.
The consequences of the 18 March directive were predictable. The admission of COVID-19 positive residents to nursing homes accelerated the transmission of the virus and exposed the most vulnerable residents of our state to serious illness and death. In May, cases of the virus in nursing homes were spreading like wildfire. Approximately two-thirds of COVID-19 deaths at the time were resident in long-term care facilities. In several counties, 100 percent of all COVID-19 deaths occurred in those same homes.
In particular, Levine realized the policy’s failure six weeks after the fateful decision. At that time, 70 percent of all deaths in Pennsylvania were attributed to Levine’s action. For the safety of Levine’s mother (then 95 years old and in a nursing home), she was safely put in a hotel suite to prevent the virus from killing her.
Instead of having the moral strength to alert Pennsylvania to the danger that resulted from this failed policy, Levine never gave our state’s citizens the same chance or warning to protect their loved ones. By the way, the world learned of Levine’s sinister behavior the day after I demanded the secretary’s resignation for incompetence and gross negligence in May 2020.
Instead of being condemned and investigated for her decision-making, Levine was rewarded with a promotion and an appointment to the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Wolf was quick to congratulate, ridiculously stating that “a steadfast hand and a calm approach were essential to managing Pennsylvania’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The corporate media was nowhere to be found. Instead of exposing our health secretary’s incompetence, they went out of their way to protect Levine and praise the way the secretary handled the crisis.
Unfortunately, that “steady hand” was the same that signed a policy that would lead to the suffering and death of our elderly people. Instead of being held accountable or resigned in shame for the deaths caused by these science-denying policies, Levine was “promoted” to an even more powerful position in the Biden government.
Where are justice and indignation? Why is failure being promoted and praised? What about those who died as a result of Levine’s clumsy incompetence?
Today, more than half of Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 deaths are attributed to long-term care institutions. The official figure is just over 12,600 deaths. Although this number is surprising in itself, the question must be asked: is this number accurate or is it underestimated as in the case of New York?
It is time for a thorough investigation into the handling of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities. Arguably, the least we can do to ensure that our most vulnerable population is never treated like this again. The question that must be answered is: how did these science denial decisions take place in our state, and who will be held responsible for the 12,600 deaths of our loved ones?
We demand to know the truth, and these families must see those who have destroyed so many lives to be held responsible. We owe it to their families to find out why this directive was issued and the true extent of its tragic effects.
Douglas V. Mastriano is a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, representing District 33. A retired US Army colonel and veteran of the Cold War, Desert Storm and Afghanistan, he holds a Ph.D. in history and four master’s degrees.