Fox News medical collaborator Dr. Marc Siegel criticized New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday, calling his actions “shameful” after a report by the state’s Democratic attorney general found that the number of residents of nursing homes that died with COVID-19 last year may have been up to 50% higher than initial reports.
At Fox & Friends, “Siegel added that nursing homes” are never really the right place “to treat infectious diseases because the lack of knowledge, personal protective equipment and testing meant that readmitting patients from nursing homes to facilities was like” bait, “similar to” setting fire “in terms of how fast the virus was allowed to spread.
DEATHS IN NURSING HOUSE NEW YORK UP TO 12K, REVEALS OF HEAD OF CUOMO
Siegel said the Javits Center or hospital ships located on the east coast would have been a “perfect place” to place patients due to their greater capabilities and ability to properly assess and treat people infected with COVID-19.
When asked by Brian Kilmeade whether nursing homes were partly responsible for the deaths of COVID-19, Siegel agreed that the lack of communication within the New York facility inhibited patient safety.
“You weren’t allowed to enter the nursing home. Remember, you couldn’t see your mom, your dad, you couldn’t even look at them through a glass. So, not knowing if they’re taking COVID-19 or even dying is the worst possible idea and it was what happened in New York, ”said Siegel.
Fox News medical contributor concluded that ensuring that nursing home patients are vaccinated in New York and across the country is critical to dramatically reducing the death rate and preventing another catastrophe.
On Thursday, after the New York attorney general released his hard-hitting report acknowledging that Andrew Cuomo and other employees downplayed the impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes, Dr. Howard Zucker, Cuomo’s chief of health, released data updating alleged deaths in nursing homes and hospitals to almost 13,000.
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Governor Cuomo faced a bipartisan reaction because of the new reports and was ridiculed for claiming that “incompetent government kills people” in interviews with MSNBC and CNN.