A recent article on covid-19 nursing home statistics led me to investigate.
The Wolf administration, following the examples in New York and New Jersey, in mid-March directed that patients, including those with covid-19, be admitted to nursing homes. As of June 11, there were 5,953 covid-19 deaths in Pennsylvania, 4,199 of them being nursing home residents (77% of the total) and 89% of them being 65 or older.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order did nothing to protect the already isolated, vulnerable nursing home residents. Pennsylvania tracks nursing home statistics without, to the best of my knowledge, doing anything special to protect them. Health care officials early on stressed that this virus was most deadly to those over 65.
By contrast, Florida’s governor, on March 4, stopped visitation to nursing homes and set standards for nursing home workers’ protection including monitoring to assure compliance. Covid-19 statistics for Florida’s nursing homes include only about 1,400 deaths (33% of those for Pennsylvania), yet Florida has more than twice as many seniors as Pennsylvania.
Nursing home residents needed the governor’s protection during this crisis. His actions were and continue to be woefully inadequate — an epic fail.
Richard Unterzuber
North Huntingdon