A few years before my late maternal grandmother passed away, my family made a decision that she could no longer take care of herself. The only option was to move to a nursing home. To say that it was not an easy process is a understatement.
Across the country, millions of families have repeated this process. The last thing anyone wanted was to make it more complicated via Covid-19.
After three months of sheltering in place and wearing protection when going outside, it appears that the virus’s hold on New York and New Jersey is starting to break. Those of us who live in New York and New Jersey should be congratulating ourselves, as should those in the halls of power. But there is one issue that must be overcome before we can say we are in the clear: nursing homes.
As of the end of May, 20% of all Covid-19 cases in New York were found in a nursing home or long term adult care facility. In New Jersey, just above 50% of those who died from the virus were either lived in and/or worked in one of these organizations.
It should be considered that back in March and early April, we did not have the information we have now. This led to doing the best that was able to be done at that point. However, that does not excuse the major miscalculations that were made and the loss of life that may have been prevented.
Governors Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy have done an admirable job in trying to control disease that takes no prisoners. However, the fact that far too many nursing home residents and employees died is a stain on their response to Covid-19.
Writergurlny 