On Saturday, after a reporter informed Florida GOP governor Ron DeSantis that New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo was “considering a quarantine on travelers from Florida,” DeSantis fired back a withering response as he obliquely referred to the New York state order that possibly doomed many elderly residents to die from the coronavirus: “I think governors are going to do what they need to do. I would just ask them if that’s done, just please do not quarantine any Floridians in the nursing homes in New York.”
Florida's @GovRonDeSantis taking a shot at @NYGovCuomo during today's COVID briefing. Cuomo says he's mulling a quarantine on travelers from Florida (FL is already doing this to travelers from NY). Here was DeSantis's response: pic.twitter.com/YhVqrIUV6r
— Forrest Saunders (@FBSaunders) June 20, 2020
As Fox News noted, over 6,200 elderly residents may have died from COVID-19 in New York nursing homes according to state health department statistics. On March 25, the New York Department of Health issued an advisory that stated nursing homes had to accept residents returning from hospitals whether or not they had a diagnosis of COVID-19. The advisory stated:
During this global health emergency, all NHs must comply with the expedited receipt of residents returning from hospitals to NHs. Residents are deemed appropriate for return to a NH upon a determination by the hospital physician or designee that the resident is medically stable for return. Hospital discharge planners must confirm to the NH, by telephone, that the resident is medically stable for discharge. Comprehensive discharge instructions must be provided by the hospital prior to the transport of a resident to the NH.
No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.
The Daily Wire reported on May 10 that a report from New York state authorities showed that “at least 4,813 residents with confirmed or presumed cases of COVID-19 have died at 351 of New York’s 613 nursing homes since March 1, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration’s new list,” according to Time Magazine.
Last Thursday, Cuomo said of quarantining Floridians, “I have experts who have advised me to do that. I am considering it now in some ways … You want to talk about a full 180 for those people. Florida and other states imposed quarantine on New Yorkers. If you went to Florida, you had to quarantine for two weeks because they were afraid that New Yorkers were bringing the virus to their state. Fast forward 100 days now. We’re afraid they’re bringing the virus to our state … The tale of two cities, two countries. How come? How do you explain this? Who would believe this? 180 turn around.”
As of June 21, according to The New York Times, New York had reported almost 392,702 cases of coronavirus with 30,884 deaths; Florida had reported 97,283 cases with 3,160 deaths. That amounts to 7.9% of the cases reported in New York eventuating in death, while in Florida 3.2% of the cases resulted in death.
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