Former US Sen. Al D’Amato blasted state Health Department officials as “out of their minds” for forcing New York nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients — and believes the death toll is higher than the announced tally.
“I don’t know where their head is — it could be up their butt,” D’Amato said of Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker and the Health Department during an interview on John Catisimatidis (Cats at Night) 970 AM radio show Wednesday night.
“When they say nursing homes have to take people who have the virus, what are they out of their minds??!!,” D’Amato said.
“And they’re going to segregate them? Come on. Cut it out. Get real. The nursing homes have been a breeding ground for this.”
“People in nursing homes have all kinds of underlying problems. You don’t say, ‘You have to take people who got the virus.’ You send them to the hospitals.”
D’Amato said the 3,500 deaths reported from nursing homes is low-ball figure because it doesn’t taken into account residents whose passing was attributed to other complications.
“It’s higher — believe me,” he said.
Though a Republican, D’Amato has been an uber-lobbyist since losing his seat to Sen. Chuck Schumer in 1998 and has been a big Cuomo booster – hosting campaign fundraisers for the Democratic governor and backing his elections.
“By and large, the governor has done a good job. His health department has fed him a lot of nonsense … He’s done a good job but his health department has given him bad advice,” D’Amato said.
Cuomo has defended the nursing home edict despite criticism that it’s helped spread the virus.
“They don’t have a right to object. That is the rule and that is the regulation and they have to comply with that,” Cuomo said last week. “And the regulation is common sense: if you can’t provide adequate care, you can’t have the patient in your facility and that’s your basic fiduciary obligation — I would say, ethical obligation — and it’s also your legal obligation.”
Health Department spokesman Gary Holmes responded, “The fact is the order states that you can’t discriminate, but you need proper facilities and proper staffing with proper protective equipment. if a nursing home doesn’t have any of that, they can’t accept the patient. This is consistent with CDC guidance and virtually identical to orders in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington and other states.”
Cuomo said that if a nursing home can’t properly quarantine and treat COVID-19 patients with separate staffers, it’s required to move them to another facility or ask the state Department of Health to arrange a transfer.
Meanwhile, the Post on Wednesday exclusively reported the Health Department allowed nurses and other staff who tested positive for the coronavirus to continue treating COVID-19 patients at an upstate nursing home.
The department later issued a statement saying it implemented new restrictions that will prevent “COVID positive healthcare personnel from returning to work for 14 days.”