The country is on the clock, and precious time is being wasted.
It is estimated over 40,000 of our nation’s grandparents, and the selfless men and women who care for them, have died due to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Until we can ensure that every state and nursing facility in our union is better prepared to handle the threat the virus poses, this horrific death toll will only rise.
Why? While we are seeing a reprieve from the COVID-19 outbreak in significant portions of the country, scientists have warned us that a second wave of the virus may rear its ugly head in the coming months.
Public health measures and abundant testing will help to insulate the general public, but a resurgence in coronavirus cases will further devastate our most vulnerable populations. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been hard at work studying the data and developing important guidance. But clear guidance can only go so far when every state has such varying caseloads and death tolls.
Knowing the impending storm that lies ahead, we must aggressively mobilize a coalition of leaders in the public and private sectors to join together and build a comprehensive strategy to protect our elderly.
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We’ve already seen the deadly impact the wrong policies can have — so why not start there? By closely investigating the states where things went so awry, we can learn from the serious mistakes of the past and avoid repeating this dark history.
In New York alone, more than 5,900 nursing home and adult care residents have died — and this number is undercounted because of the way the state has assigned nursing home deaths. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decisions, including forcing nursing homes to receive virus-positive patients, are directly responsible for the death of so many of the state’s grandparents. The decision was in direct conflict with CDC guidance despite Cuomo’s claims otherwise (which were rated “mostly false” by Politifact).Read the rest from Rep. Tom Reed & Rep. Steve Scalise HERE and follow links below to related stories and resources:
SHOCK: Nursing Homes Accounted For ‘Nearly 40%’ Of All Coronavirus Deaths Nationwide
Why do some infected with the coronavirus escape COVID-19 unharmed? It's probably their genes
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
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