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 The effort to step up infection-prevention measures at New York's
nursing homes and adult care facilities came as the state hardest
hit by the pandemic has registered a downward trajectory in its
daily overall COVID-19 death toll and hospitalizations.
Numbers are on the rise elsewhere across the country, however, as
dozens of states have moved in recent weeks to relax business
restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has
infected at least 1.3 million Americans.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said he has ordered all nursing home staff to
be tested at least twice a week for the virus and is barring
hospitals from discharging any COVID-19 patient to a nursing
facility until that individual tests negative for infection.
If a nursing home is deemed unable to provide proper treatment and
support for a recovering resident, that person is to be transferred
to the care of the state, which Cuomo said now has ample hospital
bed capacity for such patients.
"Our No. 1 priority is protecting people in nursing homes," Cuomo
said. "It's where it (COVID-19) feeds."
Elderly individuals and people with underlying chronic health
conditions are among those at highest risk for severe illness and
death from COVID-19, the lung disease caused by the novel
coronavirus.
Nursing homes, long-term care facilities and assisted-living centers
have registered some of the most lethal localized outbreaks across
the country, including the nation's first major known cluster of
COVID-19 cases and deaths in suburban Seattle.
Nearly 5,400 residents of nursing homes and adult care facilities
have died from confirmed or presumed COVID-19 infections since March
1 in New York state alone, Health Department data shows. That comes
to about 20% of 26,656 coronavirus deaths overall in New York to
date.
Nursing home residents account for an even greater portion of
COVID-19 mortality in other parts of the country - 28% in Indiana,
38% in California and 80% in Minnesota, according to state figures.
PEDIATRIC CASES
While senior citizens are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, New
York also is investigating up to 85 cases of children with a rare
inflammatory condition believed to be linked to the coronavirus. So
far three of those children, who also tested positive for the virus,
have died in New York, and two more deaths are under review, Cuomo
said.
The pediatric cases in question share symptoms with toxic shock
syndrome and Kawasaki disease, which can include inflammation of the
blood vessels and potentially fatal heart damage.
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While New York continues to see declines in key measures of the pandemic -- its
hospitalizations on Sunday hit a seven-week low -- many states, including
Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas, are reporting rising case tallies even as
they move to reopen their economies.
Michigan was due to allow factories to resume production starting on Monday,
removing a major obstacle to North American automakers seeking to bring
thousands of idled employees back to work this month. California gave the
go-ahead to manufacturing and warehouse facilities to reopen under certain
restrictions on Friday after a seven-week lockdown.
The stakes could hardly be greater. Stay-at-home orders and mandatory business
closures have devastated the U.S. economy and thrown some 33.5 million Americans
out of work in less than two months - a level of joblessness not seen since the
Great Depression of the 1930s.
Public health experts have warned that precautions needed for reopening to
proceed safely, such as vastly expanded diagnostic testing and contact tracing,
have yet to be put in place, risking a major resurgence of the virus.
It also remains to be seen whether many consumers are willing to venture back
into shopping malls and restaurants in the midst of a pandemic for which there
is no vaccine and no cure.
The White House has opened informal talks with Republicans and Democrats in
Congress about next steps on coronavirus relief legislation, officials said on
Sunday, but they stressed any new federal money would come with strings
attached.
The coronavirus has in recent days invaded the White House itself, with a valet
to President Donald Trump and the press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence
each testing positive. As a result, three senior health officials guiding the
U.S. response to the pandemic have gone into self-quarantine, .
Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialist, is considered to
be at relatively low risk based on the degree of his exposure. Also quarantining
are Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn.
(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by
Lisa Shumaker and Steve Gorman; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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