During a press conference on Wednesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) said that the “obligation is on the nursing home” to say they can’t accept people who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Cuomo said that he has “always followed CDC guidance.” And “I think the rule that you can’t discriminate against a COVID patient is right.”
He continued, “That doesn’t mean the nursing home has to accept a COVID-positive patient. They conflate those two things. I understand because politically, facts don’t matter…but because you can’t discriminate doesn’t mean you have to accept. Actually, the law is the opposite. You cannot accept a patient at a nursing home unless you can fully and adequately treat that patient. So, you can’t accept a COVID patient — COVID-positive patient, unless you can isolate and quarantine and have the staff. Unless you can do all that, you cannot accept that person. And the nursing home — the obligation is on the nursing home to say, I can’t take a COVID-positive person. I’m too crowded. I’m too busy. I don’t have enough PPE. Whatever the answer is. It doesn’t even matter. It’s — if they say, I can’t take the person, they can’t take the person. So, that’s how it works. It doesn’t mean they discriminate against the COVID-positive person. They just say, I can’t handle the person.”
(h/t Harry Siegel)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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