NYC will send COVID tests, new staff to every nursing home in Queens
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Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city effort will provide COVID-19 tests to every nursing home in the five boroughs. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By David Brand
New York City will begin sending COVID-19 test kits and reserve staff to all 169 nursing homes in the five boroughs in order to fight the spread of an illness particularly lethal to older adults, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.
At least 3,082 New York City nursing home residents have died as a confirmed or probable result of the coronavirus, according to state Health Department data published Tuesday. More nursing homes residents have died in Queens, 916, than any county in the state.
Even as information in other parts of the world made clear that the coronavirus killed older adults, nursing homes in New York lacked testing capabilities. Several lawmakers and public health experts say the state Health Department hastened the spread by ordering hospitals to release patients who tested positive for COVID-19 back to nursing homes. Gov. Andrew Cuomo reversed that policy earlier this month.
But the effort to provide tests to every nursing home in the city was a long time coming, de Blasio said Wednesday.
“In the first weeks of this crisis, there was no testing to be had basically, and what we had had to go to save lives in the hospitals, had to go to protect the healthcare workers and first responders who are the people saving our lives,” de Blasio said.
Starting next week, the city will begin supplying the needed tests, with a goal of administering 3,000 tests per day, he said.
“As many test kits as the nursing home needs, we will provide,” de Blasio said.
“We'll ramp it up immediately, and then continue as long as it takes. If this needs to go on for months and months, we will continue for months and months, whatever it takes,” he added.
The city effort could help nursing homes fulfill a state executive order mandating twice-weekly testing for staff.
The city will also send new workers to plug likely staff shortages at nursing homes that arise as more people test positive for COVID-19, de Blasio. When a nursing home staff member tests positive, they must stay home for at least 14 days, stemming the spread of the illness but straining the remaining workforce.
“By the end of next week, every outstanding staffing request from every nursing home in New York City will be fulfilled by the city of New York,” he said.
De Blasio also said the city will increase the use of “outbreak response teams” to track the rate of COVID-19 in nursing homes and ensure every patient and staff member is tested.
A fourth, more abstract, component of de Blasio’s nursing home plan calls for at-home senior care for older adults who many now reside in nursing homes.
Flushing Assemblymember Ron Kim, a major critic of the state’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak inside nursing homes, praised de Blasio’s plan.
“What’s been lacking is the statewide response from the state Department of Health,” Kim said.
He said he looked forward to learning more about future home care plan and efforts to direct more Medicare funding to at-home services.
“Nursing homes should be a peaceful place for people to retire,” Kim said. “But we haven’t done enough during this emergency crisis to help them go home.”
