In January, a report by the New York Attorney General revealed that Andrew Cuomo’s government had committed more than 50 percent of deaths in the state. As Governor Tom Pennsylvania in Pennsylvania tries to imitate his partner in the North on almost every COVID-19 policy and strategy, it is not far-fetched to wonder whether the deaths in long-term care in Pennsylvania are also deliberately underestimated.
Indeed, in September, Spotlight Pennsylvania reported that weekly reports released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health consistently lacked death and case data for more than 100 of the state’s 693 nursing homes.
Let us also not forget this past summer, when dozens of provincial coroners questioned and refuted the numbers of COVID-19 deaths reported by the Wolf administration. For example, the most recent weekly report of March 10 shows that 138 facilities still show ‘no data’ for multiple COVID-19 deaths.
It took the courage of the Attorney General in New York to investigate the policies of her own government and to disclose the count of reported deaths. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro drew his attention to the investigation into the facilities that were initially forced into a bad position.
In May, the attorney general said, “We will hold nursing homes and caregivers criminally liable if they fail to properly care for our loved ones.” Yet Shapiro refuses to investigate the decision of the Wolf administration and the accuracy of the reported deaths.
In March 2020, Wolf faced an important decision in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued clues for long-term care facilities to all 50 residents. It is noteworthy, however, that ‘guidance’ is the key word here and was not a guideline for every governor.
The March 13 CDC leadership said nursing homes should “allow” individuals what they would normally allow (with or without COVID-19). But it did not say that they “must ” recognize these individuals.
The governors of 45 of the 50 states are following scientific information and reject the idea of sending sick COVID-19 patients to the most vulnerable population. Yet the governors of five states – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Michigan and California – foolishly and recklessly directed their respective health secretaries to send the sick back to long-term care facilities, which unleashed a plague among our elderly.
For Pennsylvania, this disastrous decision was made before many of the other states. On March 18, arguably the largest science-denial fraud in our state’s history, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine issued the now infamous guideline to long-term care facilities to accept COVID-19 positive hospital residents.
It is tragically ironic that the same people who espouse the mantra of “believing in science” have completely ignored their own flatness. The data was clear before the March 18 assignment that individuals over the age of 65 and those with underlying health conditions were at greatest risk for serious illness and death. The Wolf administration was aware of this and still made the disastrous decision.
The subsequent fallout from that directive on March 18 was predictable. The admission of COVID-19-positive residents into nursing homes has accelerated the transmission of the virus and exposed the most vulnerable residents of our state to serious illness and death. By May, the virus had spread like wildfire in nursing homes. About two-thirds of the COVID-19 deaths at the time were residents of long-term care facilities. In several provinces, 100 percent of all COVID-19 deaths were in these homes.
Privately, Levine realizes the failure of the policy six weeks after the fateful decision. At that time, 70 percent of all deaths in Pennsylvania were due to Levine’s actions. For the safety of Levine’s mother (then 95 years old and in a parental home), she was safely placed in a hotel package to prevent the virus from killing her.
However, instead of having the moral courage to inform Pennsylvania of the danger that resulted from this failed policy, Levine never gave the citizens of our state the same chance or warning to protect their loved ones. By the way, the world learned of Levine’s sinister behavior the day after I demanded in May 2020 the secretary’s resignation for incompetence and gross negligence.
Instead of facing condemnation and investigation into her decision-making, Levine is rewarded with a promotion and an appointment in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Wolf quickly congratulated and ridiculously said that “the steady hand and calm approach were critical to managing Pennsylvania’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Corporate media was nowhere to be found. Instead of exposing the incompetence of our health secretary, they double Levine and praise the secretary’s handling of the crisis.
Unfortunately, that ‘firm hand’ was the same as a policy that led to the suffering and death of our elderly. Instead of being held accountable or resigning in shame for the deaths caused by this scientific denial policy, Levine was ‘promoted’ to an even more powerful position in the Biden government.
Where is the justice and indignation? Why is failure promoted and praised? What about those who died as a result of Levine’s blunted incompetence?
Today, more than half of COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania are diverted to long-term care facilities. The official number is just over 12,600 deaths. While the figure alone is staggering, the question must be asked: is the number accurate, or is it understated as in New York?
It’s time for a full investigation into the handling of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities. This is probably the least we can do to ensure that our most vulnerable population is never treated like this again. The question that needs to be answered is: how did such scientific denials take place in our state, and who will be held responsible for the 12,600 deaths of our loved ones?
We demand to know the truth, and these families must hold accountable those who have destroyed so many lives. We owe it to their families to address the question of why this directive was issued and what its true scope is.
Douglas V. Mastriano is a member of the Pennsylvania Senate, representing District 33. A retired colonel of the U.S. Army and a veteran of the Cold War, Desert Storm and Afghanistan, he earned a Ph.D. in history and four master’s degrees.