Here's How the DOJ Intends to Get Answers About COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Cortney O'Brien | August 26, 2020 6:45 PM

Are we finally going to get some answers?

For months New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration have refused to accept responsibility for the thousands of nursing home deaths that have occurred in the state during the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Their evidence was an apparent biased report from the New York State Department of Health, concluding that Cuomo's mandate to force long-term care facilities to accept COVID patients "did not significantly" impact the death rate.

Well, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that they intend to do a fact check. The agency has requested data from four specific governors, in the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, to determine for themselves just how deadly their controversial nursing home policies actually were.

Today the Justice Department requested COVID-19 data from the governors of states that issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan required nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients to their vulnerable populations, often without adequate testing. (Department of Justice)

“Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband said. “We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk.”

If they find evidence to suggest there was indeed a connection between the governors' mandates and the striking number of fatalities, The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will launch investigations under the federal “Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act," which protects the civil rights of persons in state-run nursing homes.