THE TROY RECORD
"Rensselaer County sees small increase in COVID-19 cases"
By Nicholas Buonanno nbuonanno@medianewsgroup.com @NickBuonanno on Twitter
May 10, 2020
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. — The county saw a small increase of new COVID-19 cases on Sunday.
Three new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed to the Rensselaer County Health Department, it was announced on Sunday afternoon.
The three new cases bring the total of confirmed cases in the county to 424.
Along with the three new cases, the county also announced a fourth confirmed case involving an employee at the Van Rensselaer Manor nursing home operated by the county.
The employee, an Albany County resident, last worked on May 7.
All family and contacts for residents at the VRM have been notified of the fourth case via email, according to county officials.
The new cases include:
• A new case involving a 22-year-old Troy woman.
• A new case involving a 69-year-old East Greenbush woman.
• A new case involving a 71-year-old East Greenbush man.
"We are coming up on two months since our first announced case on March 17."
"In less than two months, we have seen over 400 residents become afflicted by this disease and many families, and residents affected," Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said.
"We are looking to make some progress as we head into our second week of full testing in the county."
"Expanded testing helps create a roadmap to bring our county back to normalcy and get help for those who need treatment," McLaughlin added.
There are four residents in the hospital and two in ICU.
Over 600 residents are in monitor quarantine.
There have been 4,211 tests administered to residents.
There have been 25 deaths of county residents from COVID-19.
Along with the new confirmed cases, three cases were cleared for recovery, bringing the total number of cleared cases to 238.
"We are definitely encouraged that our recoveries continue to increase steadily."
"It shows our county is effectively tracking cases and working with those who had a confirmed case," McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin went on to discuss the need to safely reopen sooner rather than later.
"These numbers show progress, and also show that as a county, we can begin to carefully reopen much of what has been closed."
"We are looking for a balanced approach that allows for stores and services to be reopened, but with an eye toward maintaining some semblances of social distancing and crowd reduction," he said.
"We recognize the health impacts of COVID-19, but also recognize that there are growing instances of financial pressure, depression, and anxiety that are also taking a toll."
"There have been a significant increase in fatal overdoses since the COVID-19 outbreak which should also be recognized," he added.
A breakdown of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Rensselaer County by municipality and age group is provided.
Breakdown by municipality:
Troy - 134
East Greenbush - 49
North Greenbush - 44
Brunswick - 20
Rensselaer - 23
Hoosick - 7
Sand Lake - 12
Nassau - 7
Schodack - 30
Schaghticoke - 70*
Petersburgh - 3
Pittstown - 9
Poestenkill - 3
Stephentown - 8
Berlin - 3
Grafton - 2
* (Please note, for Schaghticoke, numbers include 58 confirmed cases of residents at Diamond Hill adult care home)
(Also note, there has been one confirmed case that moved from Troy to East Greenbush, and a correction in totals for towns of Sand Lake and Nassau)
Breakdown by age:
Teenagers and younger: 25
20 to 29 yrs - 79
30 to 39 yrs - 73
40 to 49 yrs - 47
50 to 59 yrs - 63
60 to 69 yrs - 53
70 to 79 yrs – 45
80 to 89 yrs - 21
90 and older - 18
There have been 25 individuals from the county who have died from COVID-19.
Those who have passed include:
A 68-year-old Sand Lake man.
An 81-year-old Pittstown man.
A 70-year-old East Greenbush man.
A 59-year-old Brunswick woman.
A 77-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
A 95-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
A 72-year-old female resident at Diamond Hill.
A 96-year-old female resident at Diamond Hill.
A 99-year-old East Greenbush man.
A 71-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
A 75-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
An 89-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
An 88-year-old female resident at Diamond Hill.
A 58-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
A 58-year-old female resident at Diamond Hill.
A 68-year-old Nassau man.
A 71-year-old female resident at Diamond Hill.
A 65-year-old Troy woman.
A 39-year-old Nassau man.
An 86-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
An 80-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
An 85-year-old male resident at Diamond Hill.
A 95-year-old male resident at the Eddy Memorial.
An 81-year-old female resident at the Eddy Memorial adult care facility in Troy.
A 91-year-old female at the Eddy Memorial Geriatric adult care home in Troy.
https://www.troyrecord.com/news/local-n ... 64d96.html
COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
THE NEW YORK POST
"Gov. Cuomo admits he was wrong to order nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients"
By Post Editorial Board
May 10, 2020 | 7:20pm | Updated May 11, 2020 | 5:47am
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has finally admitted — tacitly and partially, anyway — the mistake that was state health chief Howard Zucker’s order that nursing homes must admit coronavirus-positive patients.
On Sunday, Cuomo announced a new regulation: Such patients must now test negative for the virus before hospitals can return them to nursing homes.
Yet the gov also admitted that COVID-19 cases might still go to the facilities via other routes, and didn’t explicitly overrule Zucker’s March 25 mandate that homes must accept people despite their testing status — indeed, couldn’t even require a test pre-admission.
The gov’s people say that a home that simply can’t accommodate coronavirus patients never had to take them — though they are obliged to help those people find a place that will, with help available from the state if needed.
That is: Zucker’s mandate was never more than a “don’t discriminate” rule.
But Zucker publicly presented it as “must accept” — and Cuomo’s remarks regularly implied there must be something wrong with a home that couldn’t handle corona patients.
So, while the gov’s people imply that some homes simply misunderstood the rules, the real message to operators was that declaring themselves overwhelmed would put their licenses at risk.
Notably, the chief of one Cobble Hill facility not only had his request for PPE denied, he got turned down cold when he then asked to transfer patients.
Then, too, Zucker’s Department of Health has issued other heartless orders during this crisis — the now-rescinded “don’t even try to resuscitate” mandate to EMTs for cardiac-arrest cases, as well as telling at least one home it was OK to keep staffers on the job after they’d tested positive.
Also telling: The gov has ordered an investigation that’s plainly supposed to pin all the blame on nursing and adult-care facilities: It’s led by state Attorney General Tish James, who got her job with Cuomo’s crucial assistance — and it’s only looking at what homes did wrong.
We’re sure James will uncover plenty of real horrors: Everyone (who cared to know) has long been aware that many New York nursing homes leave a lot to be desired.
But that was all the more reason for Zucker & Co. to focus on policing and assisting these facilities from the start — rather than issuing edicts that led to repeated and needless tragedies.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/10/cuomo-was ... -patients/
"Gov. Cuomo admits he was wrong to order nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients"
By Post Editorial Board
May 10, 2020 | 7:20pm | Updated May 11, 2020 | 5:47am
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has finally admitted — tacitly and partially, anyway — the mistake that was state health chief Howard Zucker’s order that nursing homes must admit coronavirus-positive patients.
On Sunday, Cuomo announced a new regulation: Such patients must now test negative for the virus before hospitals can return them to nursing homes.
Yet the gov also admitted that COVID-19 cases might still go to the facilities via other routes, and didn’t explicitly overrule Zucker’s March 25 mandate that homes must accept people despite their testing status — indeed, couldn’t even require a test pre-admission.
The gov’s people say that a home that simply can’t accommodate coronavirus patients never had to take them — though they are obliged to help those people find a place that will, with help available from the state if needed.
That is: Zucker’s mandate was never more than a “don’t discriminate” rule.
But Zucker publicly presented it as “must accept” — and Cuomo’s remarks regularly implied there must be something wrong with a home that couldn’t handle corona patients.
So, while the gov’s people imply that some homes simply misunderstood the rules, the real message to operators was that declaring themselves overwhelmed would put their licenses at risk.
Notably, the chief of one Cobble Hill facility not only had his request for PPE denied, he got turned down cold when he then asked to transfer patients.
Then, too, Zucker’s Department of Health has issued other heartless orders during this crisis — the now-rescinded “don’t even try to resuscitate” mandate to EMTs for cardiac-arrest cases, as well as telling at least one home it was OK to keep staffers on the job after they’d tested positive.
Also telling: The gov has ordered an investigation that’s plainly supposed to pin all the blame on nursing and adult-care facilities: It’s led by state Attorney General Tish James, who got her job with Cuomo’s crucial assistance — and it’s only looking at what homes did wrong.
We’re sure James will uncover plenty of real horrors: Everyone (who cared to know) has long been aware that many New York nursing homes leave a lot to be desired.
But that was all the more reason for Zucker & Co. to focus on policing and assisting these facilities from the start — rather than issuing edicts that led to repeated and needless tragedies.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/10/cuomo-was ... -patients/
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
"Cuomo: Hospitals cannot discharge COVID-19 patients to nursing homes - Nursing home staffers will be tested for virus twice a week"
Cayla Harris, Albany, New York Times Union
May 10, 2020|Updated: May 10, 2020 6:57 p.m.
ALBANY – New York will no longer allow hospitals to discharge patients to nursing homes unless they test negative for COVID-19, and staffers in those facilities must also be tested for the virus twice a week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Sunday.
The additional protocol comes as the Cuomo administration has faced severe backlash for its handling of the pandemic in nursing homes, where the governor has said the coronavirus spreads "like fire through dry grass."
If a nursing home cannot care for someone sick with the coronavirus for any reason – including a lack of supplies or an inability to maintain social distancing – they must transfer that person to another facility or hospital, or risk losing their license, Cuomo said.
"This virus uses nursing homes," the governor said at a Capitol press briefing.
"They are ground zero."
"They are the vulnerable population in the vulnerable location."
The state has been under fire for its policies relating to the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes, for more than a month requiring the care facilities to continue accepting COVID-19 patients.
Officials had also implemented and then rescinded a policy allowing COVID-positive, but asymptomatic, employees to continue working in nursing homes.
New York has seen an increasing number of fatalities in nursing homes, even as the state's overall daily death toll declines, with 43 residents succumbing to the virus on Saturday.
The state also began reporting presumed coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and adult care facilities last week, disclosing 1,700 new fatalities in those facilities.
But Cuomo also noted on Sunday that New York has the highest nursing home population in the United States, with 101,518 residents – but has the nation's 34th-highest percentage of COVID-19 deaths in such facilities.
About 12 percent of all coronavirus deaths in New York have occurred in nursing homes, compared to states like West Virginia and Minnesota, where those facilities account for 81 and 80 percent of fatalities, respectively.
"If they cannot provide the appropriate care, they have to call the Department of Health, and let's get that resident into an appropriate facility," Cuomo said, adding that nursing homes have an obligation to keep their residents safe.
"We have the facilities."
"We have the beds."
"It's not like we're in a situation where there's no option."
All nursing home administrators must submit a certificate of compliance and a plan to the state by Friday detailing how they will abide by the testing requirement, the governor's office said in a prepared statement.
Any facility that does not adhere to the new mandates may have its operating certificate suspended or revoked, and it may also have to pay a $2,000 fine for each day there are violations.
The latest state data reports 43 deaths – both confirmed and presumed – at nursing homes and adult care facilities in the four central Capital Region counties.
The majority have occurred in Albany County, but six deaths were in Rensselaer, where County Executive Steve McLaughlin wrote on Twitter Saturday night that he has repeatedly asked state officials to transfer COVID-positive patients out of Diamond Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center but has not received a response.
Four deaths have occurred in the facility, according to state data, and McLaughlin said there were 17 new infections there on Saturday.
Cuomo senior adviser Rich Azzopardi quickly responded on Twitter with a note from Health Department Commissioner Howard Zucker, who said he had offered assistance to Diamond Hill, but facility leaders said they had enough supplies and no need to transfer patients.
"NYS DOH stands ready to assist with all of your patient and staffing needs, and please call me directly should you need any help whatsoever, including the need to move any residents out of the facility," Zucker wrote to the nursing home.
The total number of coronavirus hospitalizations and intubations declined on Saturday, as did new hospitalizations, which clocked in at 521 – about the same number it had been on March 20, near the start of the crisis.
Daily deaths dropped on Saturday to 207, the first significant drop in about a week, as deaths held steady in the low- to mid-200s for several days.
"All of this work, all of this progress of turning that tide, of reducing the rate of infection – that's all thanks to New Yorkers and what New Yorkers did," Cuomo said, promising an update Monday on reopening some regions of New York.
The governor also provided new information on Sunday on the state's investigation into a mysterious illness in children that may be related to the coronavirus.
The state Department of Health is investigating up to 85 cases of the illness, which presents symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease or toxic-shock syndrome.
Three children have died, and the department is investigating an additional two deaths.
New York is issuing a notice to all 49 other state health departments nationwide to advise them of the situation, he said.
Cuomo also said the state is looking into a new drug therapy, Remdesivir, that may help coronavirus patients recover more quickly.
New York is treating 2,900 people at 15 hospitals, he said, with guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... con&stn=nf
Cayla Harris, Albany, New York Times Union
May 10, 2020|Updated: May 10, 2020 6:57 p.m.
ALBANY – New York will no longer allow hospitals to discharge patients to nursing homes unless they test negative for COVID-19, and staffers in those facilities must also be tested for the virus twice a week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Sunday.
The additional protocol comes as the Cuomo administration has faced severe backlash for its handling of the pandemic in nursing homes, where the governor has said the coronavirus spreads "like fire through dry grass."
If a nursing home cannot care for someone sick with the coronavirus for any reason – including a lack of supplies or an inability to maintain social distancing – they must transfer that person to another facility or hospital, or risk losing their license, Cuomo said.
"This virus uses nursing homes," the governor said at a Capitol press briefing.
"They are ground zero."
"They are the vulnerable population in the vulnerable location."
The state has been under fire for its policies relating to the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes, for more than a month requiring the care facilities to continue accepting COVID-19 patients.
Officials had also implemented and then rescinded a policy allowing COVID-positive, but asymptomatic, employees to continue working in nursing homes.
New York has seen an increasing number of fatalities in nursing homes, even as the state's overall daily death toll declines, with 43 residents succumbing to the virus on Saturday.
The state also began reporting presumed coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and adult care facilities last week, disclosing 1,700 new fatalities in those facilities.
But Cuomo also noted on Sunday that New York has the highest nursing home population in the United States, with 101,518 residents – but has the nation's 34th-highest percentage of COVID-19 deaths in such facilities.
About 12 percent of all coronavirus deaths in New York have occurred in nursing homes, compared to states like West Virginia and Minnesota, where those facilities account for 81 and 80 percent of fatalities, respectively.
"If they cannot provide the appropriate care, they have to call the Department of Health, and let's get that resident into an appropriate facility," Cuomo said, adding that nursing homes have an obligation to keep their residents safe.
"We have the facilities."
"We have the beds."
"It's not like we're in a situation where there's no option."
All nursing home administrators must submit a certificate of compliance and a plan to the state by Friday detailing how they will abide by the testing requirement, the governor's office said in a prepared statement.
Any facility that does not adhere to the new mandates may have its operating certificate suspended or revoked, and it may also have to pay a $2,000 fine for each day there are violations.
The latest state data reports 43 deaths – both confirmed and presumed – at nursing homes and adult care facilities in the four central Capital Region counties.
The majority have occurred in Albany County, but six deaths were in Rensselaer, where County Executive Steve McLaughlin wrote on Twitter Saturday night that he has repeatedly asked state officials to transfer COVID-positive patients out of Diamond Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center but has not received a response.
Four deaths have occurred in the facility, according to state data, and McLaughlin said there were 17 new infections there on Saturday.
Cuomo senior adviser Rich Azzopardi quickly responded on Twitter with a note from Health Department Commissioner Howard Zucker, who said he had offered assistance to Diamond Hill, but facility leaders said they had enough supplies and no need to transfer patients.
"NYS DOH stands ready to assist with all of your patient and staffing needs, and please call me directly should you need any help whatsoever, including the need to move any residents out of the facility," Zucker wrote to the nursing home.
The total number of coronavirus hospitalizations and intubations declined on Saturday, as did new hospitalizations, which clocked in at 521 – about the same number it had been on March 20, near the start of the crisis.
Daily deaths dropped on Saturday to 207, the first significant drop in about a week, as deaths held steady in the low- to mid-200s for several days.
"All of this work, all of this progress of turning that tide, of reducing the rate of infection – that's all thanks to New Yorkers and what New Yorkers did," Cuomo said, promising an update Monday on reopening some regions of New York.
The governor also provided new information on Sunday on the state's investigation into a mysterious illness in children that may be related to the coronavirus.
The state Department of Health is investigating up to 85 cases of the illness, which presents symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease or toxic-shock syndrome.
Three children have died, and the department is investigating an additional two deaths.
New York is issuing a notice to all 49 other state health departments nationwide to advise them of the situation, he said.
Cuomo also said the state is looking into a new drug therapy, Remdesivir, that may help coronavirus patients recover more quickly.
New York is treating 2,900 people at 15 hospitals, he said, with guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... con&stn=nf
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
NEWS10 ABC
"Rensselaer County coronavirus update"
by: Johan Sheridan
Posted: May 11, 2020 / 08:43 PM EDT / Updated: May 11, 2020 / 08:43 PM EDT
TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — In its daily coronavirus update on Monday, Rensselaer County reports nine new positive cases of the virus, bringing the total of confirmed cases to 433 since the outbreak began.
New cases include:
• A 64-year-old Troy woman
• A 56-year-old Grafton woman
• A 53-year-old Grafton man
• A 19-year-old Schaghticoke man
• A 28-year-old Troy man
• A 28-year-old Troy woman
• A 59-year-old Troy woman
• A 31-year-old Brunswick man
• A 6-month-old North Greenbush infant boy
So far, 245 cases have been cleared for recovery.
As of Monday, there are four residents in the hospital and two in the ICU.
Over 600 residents are quarantined, and there have been 4,335 tests administered.
Unfortunately, they say there have also been 25 deaths, with 17 of those deaths occurring at nursing homes.
In their weekly update, County Executive Steve McLaughlin and Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas said they cannot meet testing criteria any time soon, unless nursing homes are removed from consideration.
Wadsworth Labs has signaled that they are only able to process 100 tests per day for the county.
Although the county has the capacity to administer much more than 100 tests per day, Wachunas says they have done the math, and that they will not be able to hit the benchmark to reopen until mid-June at that rate.
“We don’t need to hold back any longer based on metrics that were unclear to begin with,” McLaughlin says of the unclear, contradictory, or even arbitrary guidelines that have been sent out by state officials.
Although there is no antibody testing available within Rensselaer County, there are several testing sites open throughout the week.
“Bring your insurance card!” Wachunas reminded viewers on the Facebook livestream.
McLaughlin also addressed camping sites, which are unlikely to reopen until phase four.
https://www.news10.com/news/rensselaer- ... update-15/
"Rensselaer County coronavirus update"
by: Johan Sheridan
Posted: May 11, 2020 / 08:43 PM EDT / Updated: May 11, 2020 / 08:43 PM EDT
TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — In its daily coronavirus update on Monday, Rensselaer County reports nine new positive cases of the virus, bringing the total of confirmed cases to 433 since the outbreak began.
New cases include:
• A 64-year-old Troy woman
• A 56-year-old Grafton woman
• A 53-year-old Grafton man
• A 19-year-old Schaghticoke man
• A 28-year-old Troy man
• A 28-year-old Troy woman
• A 59-year-old Troy woman
• A 31-year-old Brunswick man
• A 6-month-old North Greenbush infant boy
So far, 245 cases have been cleared for recovery.
As of Monday, there are four residents in the hospital and two in the ICU.
Over 600 residents are quarantined, and there have been 4,335 tests administered.
Unfortunately, they say there have also been 25 deaths, with 17 of those deaths occurring at nursing homes.
In their weekly update, County Executive Steve McLaughlin and Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas said they cannot meet testing criteria any time soon, unless nursing homes are removed from consideration.
Wadsworth Labs has signaled that they are only able to process 100 tests per day for the county.
Although the county has the capacity to administer much more than 100 tests per day, Wachunas says they have done the math, and that they will not be able to hit the benchmark to reopen until mid-June at that rate.
“We don’t need to hold back any longer based on metrics that were unclear to begin with,” McLaughlin says of the unclear, contradictory, or even arbitrary guidelines that have been sent out by state officials.
Although there is no antibody testing available within Rensselaer County, there are several testing sites open throughout the week.
“Bring your insurance card!” Wachunas reminded viewers on the Facebook livestream.
McLaughlin also addressed camping sites, which are unlikely to reopen until phase four.
https://www.news10.com/news/rensselaer- ... update-15/
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
NEWSDAY
"State nursing home directive complicated COVID-19 tracking, care"
By Mark Harrington, Michael Gormley and David M. Schwartz
mark.harrington@newsday.com @MHarringtonNews
Updated May 11, 2020 7:19 PM
March 18 marked the start of a most consequential week for nursing home residents across Long Island and New York State.
That was the week when the coronavirus epidemic began surging, the sick started pouring into hospitals and doctors began trying to make space by releasing patients to nursing home care.
At the start of the seven-day period, the Island’s hospitals tallied 59 COVID-19 admissions while the statewide total stood at 617.
By week’s end, the coronavirus count at Long Island’s medical centers had multiplied by 16 times to 983 and the state’s mark had soared to 5,327 — with many more virus-stricken patients still flooding into emergency rooms.
Against that backdrop, on March 25, the New York State Department of Health notified nursing homes that they must accept coronavirus patients who had been deemed “medically stable” for discharge from hospitals while still needing care.
This means a patient’s vital signs have stabilized, but it doesn’t reflect his or her actual condition as defined by the American Hospital Association as being either good, fair, serious or critical.
The order also barred nursing homes from requiring incoming patients “to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
“During this global health emergency, all [nursing homes] must comply with the expected receipt of residents returning from hospitals to nursing homes,” the memo read.
It underscored that “no resident shall be denied readmission or admission to the nursing home solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19."
On Sunday, following calls for an independent investigation, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced hospitals can no longer send a patient who has tested positive for COVID-19 to a nursing home.
A Cuomo aide insisted this was not a reversal, but a new policy based on increased hospital capacity and testing.
“We now have the capacity and the additional testing that we didn't have in March,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said.
“Positive (COVID-19) patients can also be released to the COVID-19-only facilities we set up.”
But the two initial directives have played critical roles in the state’s inability to accurately track the true number of COVID-19 fatalities and in families alleging that Cuomo placed their loves ones at greater risk of death.
They have forced Cuomo to face criticism that hastily enacted policies cost lives in a population composed primarily of chronically ill seniors with an average age of 83.
Wilfred Kleisler, 84, began showing symptoms of COVID-19, including weakness, diarrhea and fever, at the Sunrise Manor Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation facility in Bay Shore, where he’d lived for more than a year, said Diane Panizzo, Kleisler's daughter.
Kleisler died last week at Southside Hospital from COVID-19, Panizzo said, after a positive COVID-19 test.
Sunrise Manor did not return calls seeking comment.
While saying that she couldn't directly blame the state executive order for her father's sickness, Panizzo, of Farmingville, said, “You cannot mix vulnerable populations with COVID patients.”
Cuomo, who once stated that the virus could sweep through nursing homes “like fire through dry grass,” has responded both that the state-chartered facilities are paid to assist patients who need hospital aftercare and that nursing homes are obligated to notify the state if they cannot safely carry out their duties.
"Once again, this nursing home directive was based on CDC guidelines and is virtually identical to several other states and the clear policy is if a nursing home does not have the facilities, the staff nor the protective equipment to care for a resident, they must transfer them to a place that can — period," Azzopardi said.
"Throughout this pandemic, we have offered assistance in transporting, access to more than 95,000 volunteers to address staffing issues — which 400 of 600 nursing homes in the state used — and shipped more than 4 million pieces of protective equipment to nursing homes. ”
State officials, who asked not to be identified, explained the March 25 order as one born out of concern that nursing homes might not take patients who were treated in hospitals for the virus the way some HIV patients were discriminated against in the early days of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
The officials cited fear that elderly patients could be left to seek housing, which could worsen their condition and spread the virus.
The March 25 order states, "Residents are deemed appropriate for return to a [nursing home] upon a determination by the hospital physician or designee that the resident is medically stable for return."
The notification gives no specific definition of medically stable, though health experts assumed that those patients should have been assumed to be contagious.
John Dalli, an elder care attorney at Mineola-based Dalli & Marino, said the order sent sick people into facilities ill-equipped to care for them.
“There’s no way these facilities, understaffed to begin with, could handle an influx in cases,” he said.
New York has 101,518 residents in nursing homes, according to Cuomo, the highest total among the 50 states.
As of May 10, the Cuomo administration reported that 1,232 Long Island nursing home and adult care facility residents had died of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 illnesses since March 1.
The numbers don't include nursing home residents who died at hospitals.
The administration also revised its count of nursing home deaths across the state to more than 4,800 people, 1,700 greater than previously reported.
Nursing home advocates were quick to realize the potential implications of the Department of Health directive.
“This memo raised a tremendous concern and we raised all sorts of issues” with regulators, said Michael Balboni, a former state senator who is now executive director of the Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association, an industry lobbying group.
Balboni said he understood overwhelmed hospitals were in crisis.
While stopping short of faulting the governor or the state, he said the order should have accompanied a plan to make sure the nursing homes were equipped to face the onslaught, including with personal protective equipment for staff.
“In a perfect world everyone would have stopped and said, ‘Get all nursing homeowners on the phone.'"
"'Who has the capacity to isolate this [COVID] population?'"
"Who has PPE?'"
"'And who has the staff to be able to safely work with these patients before the patient is transferred?’” Balboni said.
The state’s order informed nursing homes: “Critical personal protective equipment (PPE) needs should be immediately communicated to your local Office of Emergency Management, with the appropriate information provided at the time of request.”
Four days later, state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker established protocols for separating residents into “positive, negative and unknown” regarding coronavirus infections, as well as creating specific staffing teams for coronavirus-positive patients.
Maria Torroella Carney, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine and medical director of post-acute services at Northwell Health, which operates hospitals and three nursing homes across Long Island and the metro area, said nursing homes had clear guidelines from the state for separating COVID-19 patients and for assuming all COVID-19 transfers from hospitals were still COVID-19 positive, and thus contagious.
“The best practice is to assume that staff may be carriers, to test and monitor symptoms of staff on a regular basis,” she said.
“Assume patients are positive until you get the testing done.”
Gurwin Jewish Nursing and Rehabilitation, a 460-bed facility in Commack, used movable barriers in a dedicated wing of the facility to house COVID-19 patients from hospitals, along with a dedicated entrance to stop the spread, officials said.
“We try to keep things as segregated as possible,” said chief executive Stuart Almer, noting the facility has a 28-bed ventilator unit.
While he and family members of residents attempted to push back on the state order, there was also the understanding that the state was in crisis.
“Positive or not we take care of people,” he said.
The health commissioner also said the state would immediately enforce new rules that bar nursing home workers who contract and overcome the coronavirus workers from returning to work for 14 days after symptoms appeared.
The federal Centers for Disease Control recommends allowing coronavirus-positive workers back on the job at least three days since recovery from symptoms and seven days since symptoms first appeared.
The state officials who asked not to be identified said Cuomo enacted the 14-day cushion to provide more time for workers to recover than required under federal regulations.
To alleviate staffing shortages, nursing homes can turn to the administration's newly created database of 95,000 health care workers, many from out of state, who volunteered to work in hospitals and nursing homes.
About 400 nursing homes have since used the “portal” to replenish staffing, they say.
With lobbyists for nursing homes and other health care facilities raising alarms, Cuomo and the legislature passed a state budget on April 3 that granted immunity from “any liability, civil or criminal, for any harm or damages” resulting from health care services provided for COVID-19, except for lawsuits based on actions deemed criminally depraved or negligent.
The language covers “any health care facility or health care professional,” including hospitals, nursing homes and volunteer organizations.
The immunity was retroactive to March 7, according to the bill.
State officials said the impetus for the immunity clause was an influx of health care workers from other states operating without New York licenses.
In an effort to increase the capacity of hospitals, Cuomo issued a temporary order allowing these people to work in New York.
Without the immunity measure, any health care worker without a New York license and the hospital or nursing home in which they were working could potentially be sued for a mistake.
They called it a "good Samaritan" law.
Cuomo announced April 23 an investigation of nursing homes and their compliance with COVID-19 related executive orders, including a requirement they report COVID-19 test results and deaths to residents’ families.
The state said it would begin to inspect facilities for compliance with state directions, and violators faced fines of up to $10,000 and loss of their operating license.
For some of the biggest nursing homes on Long Island, alarms by family members went off after the Department of Health issued the March 25 directive.
“The immediate impact on the families was significant — they were outraged,” said Gurwin’s Almer.
“Everyone has been very, very vocal on this."
"We all are concerned for our residents in our facilities.”
Gurwin through early May had admitted 52 COVID-19-positive patients since the March 25 directive: 17 from Huntington Hospital, 10 from Stony Brook, eight from St. Catherine of Siena, five from Southside Hospital and two or three each from eight others.
To date, 46 people have died at Gurwin due to COVID-19, of which 40 were Gurwin residents and six were hospital admissions, according to data provided by Gurwin, which also reported 76 patients recovered from COVID in its care.
Hospital admissions rushed upward after March 25, ultimately peaking at 18,825 statewide on April 11 and 4,085 on the Island April 13.
In a statement, the health department wrote that “we are not using nursing homes as hospital surge capacity.”
However, the agency’s March 25 directive did state: “There is an urgent need to expand hospital capacity in New York State to be able to meet the demand for patients with COVID-19 requiring acute care.”
For hospitals overrun with COVID-19 patients by the end of March and continuing through April, the March 25 directive was a godsend.
“It was very important,” said Torroella Carney of Northwell.
The order was issued “near the peak of our bed-capacity issues,” she said.
COVID-related patient admissions at Northwell hospitals at that point had swelled to 3,425 at the height of the pandemic on April 7, a spokesman said.
Northwell has discharged more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients to nursing homes over the past two months, spokesman Terry Lynam said.
The directive freed hospitals from the prior requirement of two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests before discharging a patient, Torroella Carney said, which “is not easy to get.”
She added that “there are risks to keeping people in acute-care hospitals for a prolonged period.”
Some patients were stable but couldn’t go home because other family members were also sick and couldn’t care for them.
Sending them to nursing facilities “seemed at that point a necessary plan of care, to provide a safe health care environment for people not acute who could not go home.”
“I think there was a huge pressure to help the hospitals, and skilled nursing has always been part of the continuum of care,” she said.
Stephen Hanse, chief executive of the New York State Health Facilities Association, another industry lobbying group, said of the department’s directive:
“When you’re dealing in a state of emergency, when advisories are issued they are effective immediately."
"You have to adhere to them."
"So the concerns were raised but you’re in a pandemic emergency situation.”
With Yancey Roy
By Mark Harrington, Michael Gormley and David M. Schwartz
mark.harrington@newsday.com @MHarringtonNews
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
https://www.newsday.com/news/health/cor ... con&stn=nf
"State nursing home directive complicated COVID-19 tracking, care"
By Mark Harrington, Michael Gormley and David M. Schwartz
mark.harrington@newsday.com @MHarringtonNews
Updated May 11, 2020 7:19 PM
March 18 marked the start of a most consequential week for nursing home residents across Long Island and New York State.
That was the week when the coronavirus epidemic began surging, the sick started pouring into hospitals and doctors began trying to make space by releasing patients to nursing home care.
At the start of the seven-day period, the Island’s hospitals tallied 59 COVID-19 admissions while the statewide total stood at 617.
By week’s end, the coronavirus count at Long Island’s medical centers had multiplied by 16 times to 983 and the state’s mark had soared to 5,327 — with many more virus-stricken patients still flooding into emergency rooms.
Against that backdrop, on March 25, the New York State Department of Health notified nursing homes that they must accept coronavirus patients who had been deemed “medically stable” for discharge from hospitals while still needing care.
This means a patient’s vital signs have stabilized, but it doesn’t reflect his or her actual condition as defined by the American Hospital Association as being either good, fair, serious or critical.
The order also barred nursing homes from requiring incoming patients “to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
“During this global health emergency, all [nursing homes] must comply with the expected receipt of residents returning from hospitals to nursing homes,” the memo read.
It underscored that “no resident shall be denied readmission or admission to the nursing home solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19."
On Sunday, following calls for an independent investigation, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced hospitals can no longer send a patient who has tested positive for COVID-19 to a nursing home.
A Cuomo aide insisted this was not a reversal, but a new policy based on increased hospital capacity and testing.
“We now have the capacity and the additional testing that we didn't have in March,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said.
“Positive (COVID-19) patients can also be released to the COVID-19-only facilities we set up.”
But the two initial directives have played critical roles in the state’s inability to accurately track the true number of COVID-19 fatalities and in families alleging that Cuomo placed their loves ones at greater risk of death.
They have forced Cuomo to face criticism that hastily enacted policies cost lives in a population composed primarily of chronically ill seniors with an average age of 83.
Wilfred Kleisler, 84, began showing symptoms of COVID-19, including weakness, diarrhea and fever, at the Sunrise Manor Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation facility in Bay Shore, where he’d lived for more than a year, said Diane Panizzo, Kleisler's daughter.
Kleisler died last week at Southside Hospital from COVID-19, Panizzo said, after a positive COVID-19 test.
Sunrise Manor did not return calls seeking comment.
While saying that she couldn't directly blame the state executive order for her father's sickness, Panizzo, of Farmingville, said, “You cannot mix vulnerable populations with COVID patients.”
Cuomo, who once stated that the virus could sweep through nursing homes “like fire through dry grass,” has responded both that the state-chartered facilities are paid to assist patients who need hospital aftercare and that nursing homes are obligated to notify the state if they cannot safely carry out their duties.
"Once again, this nursing home directive was based on CDC guidelines and is virtually identical to several other states and the clear policy is if a nursing home does not have the facilities, the staff nor the protective equipment to care for a resident, they must transfer them to a place that can — period," Azzopardi said.
"Throughout this pandemic, we have offered assistance in transporting, access to more than 95,000 volunteers to address staffing issues — which 400 of 600 nursing homes in the state used — and shipped more than 4 million pieces of protective equipment to nursing homes. ”
State officials, who asked not to be identified, explained the March 25 order as one born out of concern that nursing homes might not take patients who were treated in hospitals for the virus the way some HIV patients were discriminated against in the early days of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
The officials cited fear that elderly patients could be left to seek housing, which could worsen their condition and spread the virus.
The March 25 order states, "Residents are deemed appropriate for return to a [nursing home] upon a determination by the hospital physician or designee that the resident is medically stable for return."
The notification gives no specific definition of medically stable, though health experts assumed that those patients should have been assumed to be contagious.
John Dalli, an elder care attorney at Mineola-based Dalli & Marino, said the order sent sick people into facilities ill-equipped to care for them.
“There’s no way these facilities, understaffed to begin with, could handle an influx in cases,” he said.
New York has 101,518 residents in nursing homes, according to Cuomo, the highest total among the 50 states.
As of May 10, the Cuomo administration reported that 1,232 Long Island nursing home and adult care facility residents had died of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 illnesses since March 1.
The numbers don't include nursing home residents who died at hospitals.
The administration also revised its count of nursing home deaths across the state to more than 4,800 people, 1,700 greater than previously reported.
Nursing home advocates were quick to realize the potential implications of the Department of Health directive.
“This memo raised a tremendous concern and we raised all sorts of issues” with regulators, said Michael Balboni, a former state senator who is now executive director of the Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association, an industry lobbying group.
Balboni said he understood overwhelmed hospitals were in crisis.
While stopping short of faulting the governor or the state, he said the order should have accompanied a plan to make sure the nursing homes were equipped to face the onslaught, including with personal protective equipment for staff.
“In a perfect world everyone would have stopped and said, ‘Get all nursing homeowners on the phone.'"
"'Who has the capacity to isolate this [COVID] population?'"
"Who has PPE?'"
"'And who has the staff to be able to safely work with these patients before the patient is transferred?’” Balboni said.
The state’s order informed nursing homes: “Critical personal protective equipment (PPE) needs should be immediately communicated to your local Office of Emergency Management, with the appropriate information provided at the time of request.”
Four days later, state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker established protocols for separating residents into “positive, negative and unknown” regarding coronavirus infections, as well as creating specific staffing teams for coronavirus-positive patients.
Maria Torroella Carney, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine and medical director of post-acute services at Northwell Health, which operates hospitals and three nursing homes across Long Island and the metro area, said nursing homes had clear guidelines from the state for separating COVID-19 patients and for assuming all COVID-19 transfers from hospitals were still COVID-19 positive, and thus contagious.
“The best practice is to assume that staff may be carriers, to test and monitor symptoms of staff on a regular basis,” she said.
“Assume patients are positive until you get the testing done.”
Gurwin Jewish Nursing and Rehabilitation, a 460-bed facility in Commack, used movable barriers in a dedicated wing of the facility to house COVID-19 patients from hospitals, along with a dedicated entrance to stop the spread, officials said.
“We try to keep things as segregated as possible,” said chief executive Stuart Almer, noting the facility has a 28-bed ventilator unit.
While he and family members of residents attempted to push back on the state order, there was also the understanding that the state was in crisis.
“Positive or not we take care of people,” he said.
The health commissioner also said the state would immediately enforce new rules that bar nursing home workers who contract and overcome the coronavirus workers from returning to work for 14 days after symptoms appeared.
The federal Centers for Disease Control recommends allowing coronavirus-positive workers back on the job at least three days since recovery from symptoms and seven days since symptoms first appeared.
The state officials who asked not to be identified said Cuomo enacted the 14-day cushion to provide more time for workers to recover than required under federal regulations.
To alleviate staffing shortages, nursing homes can turn to the administration's newly created database of 95,000 health care workers, many from out of state, who volunteered to work in hospitals and nursing homes.
About 400 nursing homes have since used the “portal” to replenish staffing, they say.
With lobbyists for nursing homes and other health care facilities raising alarms, Cuomo and the legislature passed a state budget on April 3 that granted immunity from “any liability, civil or criminal, for any harm or damages” resulting from health care services provided for COVID-19, except for lawsuits based on actions deemed criminally depraved or negligent.
The language covers “any health care facility or health care professional,” including hospitals, nursing homes and volunteer organizations.
The immunity was retroactive to March 7, according to the bill.
State officials said the impetus for the immunity clause was an influx of health care workers from other states operating without New York licenses.
In an effort to increase the capacity of hospitals, Cuomo issued a temporary order allowing these people to work in New York.
Without the immunity measure, any health care worker without a New York license and the hospital or nursing home in which they were working could potentially be sued for a mistake.
They called it a "good Samaritan" law.
Cuomo announced April 23 an investigation of nursing homes and their compliance with COVID-19 related executive orders, including a requirement they report COVID-19 test results and deaths to residents’ families.
The state said it would begin to inspect facilities for compliance with state directions, and violators faced fines of up to $10,000 and loss of their operating license.
For some of the biggest nursing homes on Long Island, alarms by family members went off after the Department of Health issued the March 25 directive.
“The immediate impact on the families was significant — they were outraged,” said Gurwin’s Almer.
“Everyone has been very, very vocal on this."
"We all are concerned for our residents in our facilities.”
Gurwin through early May had admitted 52 COVID-19-positive patients since the March 25 directive: 17 from Huntington Hospital, 10 from Stony Brook, eight from St. Catherine of Siena, five from Southside Hospital and two or three each from eight others.
To date, 46 people have died at Gurwin due to COVID-19, of which 40 were Gurwin residents and six were hospital admissions, according to data provided by Gurwin, which also reported 76 patients recovered from COVID in its care.
Hospital admissions rushed upward after March 25, ultimately peaking at 18,825 statewide on April 11 and 4,085 on the Island April 13.
In a statement, the health department wrote that “we are not using nursing homes as hospital surge capacity.”
However, the agency’s March 25 directive did state: “There is an urgent need to expand hospital capacity in New York State to be able to meet the demand for patients with COVID-19 requiring acute care.”
For hospitals overrun with COVID-19 patients by the end of March and continuing through April, the March 25 directive was a godsend.
“It was very important,” said Torroella Carney of Northwell.
The order was issued “near the peak of our bed-capacity issues,” she said.
COVID-related patient admissions at Northwell hospitals at that point had swelled to 3,425 at the height of the pandemic on April 7, a spokesman said.
Northwell has discharged more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients to nursing homes over the past two months, spokesman Terry Lynam said.
The directive freed hospitals from the prior requirement of two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests before discharging a patient, Torroella Carney said, which “is not easy to get.”
She added that “there are risks to keeping people in acute-care hospitals for a prolonged period.”
Some patients were stable but couldn’t go home because other family members were also sick and couldn’t care for them.
Sending them to nursing facilities “seemed at that point a necessary plan of care, to provide a safe health care environment for people not acute who could not go home.”
“I think there was a huge pressure to help the hospitals, and skilled nursing has always been part of the continuum of care,” she said.
Stephen Hanse, chief executive of the New York State Health Facilities Association, another industry lobbying group, said of the department’s directive:
“When you’re dealing in a state of emergency, when advisories are issued they are effective immediately."
"You have to adhere to them."
"So the concerns were raised but you’re in a pandemic emergency situation.”
With Yancey Roy
By Mark Harrington, Michael Gormley and David M. Schwartz
mark.harrington@newsday.com @MHarringtonNews
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
https://www.newsday.com/news/health/cor ... con&stn=nf
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
THE TROY RECORD
"First resident at Van Rensselaer Manor tests positive for COVID-19"
By Nicholas Buonanno nbuonanno@medianewsgroup.com @NickBuonanno on Twitter
May 12, 2020
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. — The Van Rensselaer Manor nursing home in North Greenbush, which is owned by the county, saw its first COVID-19 case with a resident.
To date, four employees from the Van Rensselaer Manor have tested positive.
The first resident that tested positive is a 94-year-old woman.
County officials said all family contacts for residents at the VRM have been contacted, and testing of residents and employees at the VRM will continue.
"We have worked hard to protect our residents at the Manor and were successful during the past two months."
"We will continue to give the highest-priority attention to the Manor during the coming days and do everything in our power to protect everyone in the facility," County Executive Steve McLaughlin said on Tuesday.
"There have already been considerable precautions and safeguards implemented at the VRM and we will be monitoring the facility even more closely in the coming days," McLaughlin added.
Meanwhile, six new cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) have been confirmed to the Rensselaer County Health Department.
The county now has 439 confirmed cases in the county.
The new cases include:
• A new case involving a 31-year-old Troy man.
• A new case involving a 30-year-old Rensselaer woman.
• A new case involving a 64-year-old Troy woman.
• A new case involving a 90-year-old male resident at the Eddy Memorial Geriatric facility in Troy.
• A new case involving a 38-year-old Troy woman.
• A new case involving a 94-year-old female resident at the county-run Van Rensselaer Manor nursing home in North Greenbush.
The county now has six residents in the hospital and two in ICU.
There are over 650 residents in monitor quarantine.
There have been 4,704 tests administered to residents.
"The county is encouraged that our hospitalizations remain low and that we continued to see cases cleared on a daily basis."
"We believe we are making progress in beating back the outbreak," McLaughlin said.
Along with the new confirmed cases, the county also announced 11 cases as cleared for recovery.
There are now 256 cleared cases in the county.
The IMA Group with Lab Corp will be testing at Hudson Valley Community College Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
People can make appointments by calling 1-800-245-4245, although appointments are not necessary.
Whitney Young Health Center will also be testing at various locations during the week.
To make an appointment, call 518-465-4771, extension 0.
Whitney Young will host a clinic at the Rensselaer City Hall, 62 Washington St., on Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Also, on Friday, Whitney Young will return to the County Office Building from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
On Friday, Whitney Young will be doing testing at their Lansingburgh location from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
McLaughlin also acknowledged the 109th Airlift Wing performing a flyover certain areas on Tuesday to thank health care workers and first responders.
"We appreciated the flyover today by the 109th Airlift Wing to show support for our nurses, health care professionals, and first responders."
"Our frontline workers have done great work under pressure and help provide care and compassion where needed," McLaughlin said.
A breakdown of cases by municipality:
Troy - 142
East Greenbush - 47
Nassau - 7
Brunswick - 21
Hoosick - 7
Sand Lake - 12
Schodack - 30
Stephentown - 8
North Greenbush - 46
Schaghticoke - 72 *
Pittstown - 9
Petersburgh - 3
Grafton - 4
Poestenkill - 3
Rensselaer - 25
Berlin - 3
(* includes 58 confirmed cases at the Diamond Hill adult care facility)
A breakdown of cases by age:
0 to 19 - 26
20 to 29 - 81
30 to 39 - 77
40 to 49 - 47
50 to 59 - 66
60 to 69 - 55
70 to 79 - 46
80 to 89 - 22
90 to 99 - 19
100 - 1
https://www.troyrecord.com/news/local-n ... 76f60.html
"First resident at Van Rensselaer Manor tests positive for COVID-19"
By Nicholas Buonanno nbuonanno@medianewsgroup.com @NickBuonanno on Twitter
May 12, 2020
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. — The Van Rensselaer Manor nursing home in North Greenbush, which is owned by the county, saw its first COVID-19 case with a resident.
To date, four employees from the Van Rensselaer Manor have tested positive.
The first resident that tested positive is a 94-year-old woman.
County officials said all family contacts for residents at the VRM have been contacted, and testing of residents and employees at the VRM will continue.
"We have worked hard to protect our residents at the Manor and were successful during the past two months."
"We will continue to give the highest-priority attention to the Manor during the coming days and do everything in our power to protect everyone in the facility," County Executive Steve McLaughlin said on Tuesday.
"There have already been considerable precautions and safeguards implemented at the VRM and we will be monitoring the facility even more closely in the coming days," McLaughlin added.
Meanwhile, six new cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) have been confirmed to the Rensselaer County Health Department.
The county now has 439 confirmed cases in the county.
The new cases include:
• A new case involving a 31-year-old Troy man.
• A new case involving a 30-year-old Rensselaer woman.
• A new case involving a 64-year-old Troy woman.
• A new case involving a 90-year-old male resident at the Eddy Memorial Geriatric facility in Troy.
• A new case involving a 38-year-old Troy woman.
• A new case involving a 94-year-old female resident at the county-run Van Rensselaer Manor nursing home in North Greenbush.
The county now has six residents in the hospital and two in ICU.
There are over 650 residents in monitor quarantine.
There have been 4,704 tests administered to residents.
"The county is encouraged that our hospitalizations remain low and that we continued to see cases cleared on a daily basis."
"We believe we are making progress in beating back the outbreak," McLaughlin said.
Along with the new confirmed cases, the county also announced 11 cases as cleared for recovery.
There are now 256 cleared cases in the county.
The IMA Group with Lab Corp will be testing at Hudson Valley Community College Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
People can make appointments by calling 1-800-245-4245, although appointments are not necessary.
Whitney Young Health Center will also be testing at various locations during the week.
To make an appointment, call 518-465-4771, extension 0.
Whitney Young will host a clinic at the Rensselaer City Hall, 62 Washington St., on Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Also, on Friday, Whitney Young will return to the County Office Building from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
On Friday, Whitney Young will be doing testing at their Lansingburgh location from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
McLaughlin also acknowledged the 109th Airlift Wing performing a flyover certain areas on Tuesday to thank health care workers and first responders.
"We appreciated the flyover today by the 109th Airlift Wing to show support for our nurses, health care professionals, and first responders."
"Our frontline workers have done great work under pressure and help provide care and compassion where needed," McLaughlin said.
A breakdown of cases by municipality:
Troy - 142
East Greenbush - 47
Nassau - 7
Brunswick - 21
Hoosick - 7
Sand Lake - 12
Schodack - 30
Stephentown - 8
North Greenbush - 46
Schaghticoke - 72 *
Pittstown - 9
Petersburgh - 3
Grafton - 4
Poestenkill - 3
Rensselaer - 25
Berlin - 3
(* includes 58 confirmed cases at the Diamond Hill adult care facility)
A breakdown of cases by age:
0 to 19 - 26
20 to 29 - 81
30 to 39 - 77
40 to 49 - 47
50 to 59 - 66
60 to 69 - 55
70 to 79 - 46
80 to 89 - 22
90 to 99 - 19
100 - 1
https://www.troyrecord.com/news/local-n ... 76f60.html
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
THE DAILY GAZETTE
"Capital Region one step away from starting to reopen as COVID-19 eases - Eight counties can begin restarting local economies after further decline in daily death toll"
John Cropley
May 12, 2020
ALBANY — The Capital Region economy got one step closer to reopening Tuesday, as COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped below the state benchmark.
The eight-county region now has just one metric left out of the seven established by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as pre-conditions for reopening — number of hospital deaths.
Cuomo on Monday announced the rating system by which the state’s 10 economic development regions would be able to reopen after the New York on Pause order expires Friday.
Initially, the Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley and Southern Tier regions met all seven criteria.
Central New York and the North Country were close behind with six of seven.
The Capital Region and three others met five conditions.
New York City was last with four.
The two metrics the Capital Region didn’t immediately meet were 1) a 14-day decline in net hospitalizations or fewer than 15 new hospitalizations on a three-day average and 2) a 14-day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths a day on a three-day average.
These two metrics are at once the best measures of the pandemic’s severity in a given region and the hardest to fix — if the thousands of government and health professionals fighting the pandemic had a way to keep people from dying, they would have long since used it.
REGIONAL REACTION
The importance of meeting the last two metrics and the difficulty of making that happen was not lost on the Capital Region leaders who sit on the regional “Control Room” that will monitor COVID-19 activity here so officials can take steps to increase countermeasures and/or slow down the economy’s reopening if more people start getting sick.
“There is a piece to it that is a waiting game,” said Schenectady County Manager Rory Fluman, a Control Room member.
The best strategy to keep the virus at bay is the one that’s been used so far: Keep people distant from each other and practicing good sanitation.
“It falls back on our normal mission of public health,” he said.
To varying degrees, the strategy has worked in individual counties.
Schenectady County saw a surge of infections and death in April, for example, reaching 506 confirmed positive cases and 28 deaths by May 2.
But since then the number of infections is up only about 10 percent and there have been no additional deaths.
Rensselaer County Executive Steven McLaughlin, also a member of the Control Room, said he’s had some frustrations with the entire shutdown and while it’s good to gain a measure of regional control over the reopening, some of the resources to implement it have been lacking.
For example, all the testing that Cuomo is ordering will exceed the number of test kits available and laboratory capacity for processing, he said.
The two metrics that stalled the Capital Region — hospitalization and death — are the hardest to influence, McLaughlin said.
“A lot of this is out of our hands — how do we control who winds up in a hospital?”
Like Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, he thinks nursing home resident hospitalizations and deaths should not be counted toward the total, as the residents are not free-roaming members of society at this point.
“Just a bad day or two at Diamond Hill or Teresian House can throw off the entire region,” McLaughlin said, naming two facilities where a combined 30 residents have died.
“At the very very peak of this mess, Rensselaer County had 20 people in the hospital."
"We now have four, three of whom are nursing home residents,” McLaughlin said.
In a county of 160,000 people, he added, “four are in the hospital and our economy is at a standstill.”
Nonetheless, he’s optimistic about the region meeting that last metric.
“Our numbers are trending down."
"I feel great except that every county has a major problem with one nursing home each,” McLaughlin said.
“But yeah, I’m hopeful.”
Saratoga County Administrator Spencer Hellwig, another member of the Control Room, said the region has to remain closed, stay the course and continue its efforts until the daily death toll drops below the benchmark.
“Fortunately we’ve got six of the seven checked off,” he said.
“I would expect that the remaining one would be checked off in the near future.”
He said the work of public health nurses in tracing contacts of infected people has been invaluable in controlling the spread of COVID in Saratoga County.
“Once those positives have been confirmed, having them go out and track down everyone they’ve been in touch with … that is probably a big reason why it’s been manageable for the most part,” Hellwig said.
“In some cases it could be dozens of people.”
Since the pandemic reached the area, 2,040 people have been instructed to go into quarantine or isolation in Saratoga County, nearly 1 in 100 residents.
When the Capital Region meets the seventh metric and begins to reopen, Saratoga County officials will add a new role: Helping businesses get back on their feet.
The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday announced its new reopening advisory group, a group of government and business leaders chaired by Waterford Supervisor Jack Lawler.
The county will become a sort of clearinghouse, Hellwig said.
“There’s been a lot of interest and questions from the business community."
"Part of the county’s role here is to provide as much assistance it can,” he said.
THE DETAILS
For purposes of reopening, the Capital Region is defined as Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties.
The Mohawk Valley is defined as Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie counties.
The seven metrics that a region must meet to reopen are:
• A 14-day decline in net COVID hospitalizations or fewer than 15 new hospitalizations per day on a three-day average;
• A 14-day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths per day on a three day average;
• Fewer than two new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents per day;
• At least 30% of hospital beds must be vacant;
• At least 30% of ICU beds must be vacant;
• At least 30 out of each 1,000 residents must be tested each month;
• At least 30 infection contract tracers must be hired per 100,000 residents.
The Capital Region and four other regions are given conditional approval on this last metric — they are labeled “expected” because they have personnel in place or in training and are expected to meet the minimum number of tracers shortly.
Statewide, 1,225,113 people had been tested for COVID-19 infections as of Tuesday morning; 338,485 of them have been confirmed positive and 21,845 have died.
An additional number of New Yorkers has died but not been included in the death toll because of reporting errors and limitations.
In the Capital Region, two new deaths were reported Tuesday, both in Columbia County.
https://dailygazette.com/article/2020/0 ... d-19-eases
"Capital Region one step away from starting to reopen as COVID-19 eases - Eight counties can begin restarting local economies after further decline in daily death toll"
John Cropley
May 12, 2020
ALBANY — The Capital Region economy got one step closer to reopening Tuesday, as COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped below the state benchmark.
The eight-county region now has just one metric left out of the seven established by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as pre-conditions for reopening — number of hospital deaths.
Cuomo on Monday announced the rating system by which the state’s 10 economic development regions would be able to reopen after the New York on Pause order expires Friday.
Initially, the Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley and Southern Tier regions met all seven criteria.
Central New York and the North Country were close behind with six of seven.
The Capital Region and three others met five conditions.
New York City was last with four.
The two metrics the Capital Region didn’t immediately meet were 1) a 14-day decline in net hospitalizations or fewer than 15 new hospitalizations on a three-day average and 2) a 14-day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths a day on a three-day average.
These two metrics are at once the best measures of the pandemic’s severity in a given region and the hardest to fix — if the thousands of government and health professionals fighting the pandemic had a way to keep people from dying, they would have long since used it.
REGIONAL REACTION
The importance of meeting the last two metrics and the difficulty of making that happen was not lost on the Capital Region leaders who sit on the regional “Control Room” that will monitor COVID-19 activity here so officials can take steps to increase countermeasures and/or slow down the economy’s reopening if more people start getting sick.
“There is a piece to it that is a waiting game,” said Schenectady County Manager Rory Fluman, a Control Room member.
The best strategy to keep the virus at bay is the one that’s been used so far: Keep people distant from each other and practicing good sanitation.
“It falls back on our normal mission of public health,” he said.
To varying degrees, the strategy has worked in individual counties.
Schenectady County saw a surge of infections and death in April, for example, reaching 506 confirmed positive cases and 28 deaths by May 2.
But since then the number of infections is up only about 10 percent and there have been no additional deaths.
Rensselaer County Executive Steven McLaughlin, also a member of the Control Room, said he’s had some frustrations with the entire shutdown and while it’s good to gain a measure of regional control over the reopening, some of the resources to implement it have been lacking.
For example, all the testing that Cuomo is ordering will exceed the number of test kits available and laboratory capacity for processing, he said.
The two metrics that stalled the Capital Region — hospitalization and death — are the hardest to influence, McLaughlin said.
“A lot of this is out of our hands — how do we control who winds up in a hospital?”
Like Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, he thinks nursing home resident hospitalizations and deaths should not be counted toward the total, as the residents are not free-roaming members of society at this point.
“Just a bad day or two at Diamond Hill or Teresian House can throw off the entire region,” McLaughlin said, naming two facilities where a combined 30 residents have died.
“At the very very peak of this mess, Rensselaer County had 20 people in the hospital."
"We now have four, three of whom are nursing home residents,” McLaughlin said.
In a county of 160,000 people, he added, “four are in the hospital and our economy is at a standstill.”
Nonetheless, he’s optimistic about the region meeting that last metric.
“Our numbers are trending down."
"I feel great except that every county has a major problem with one nursing home each,” McLaughlin said.
“But yeah, I’m hopeful.”
Saratoga County Administrator Spencer Hellwig, another member of the Control Room, said the region has to remain closed, stay the course and continue its efforts until the daily death toll drops below the benchmark.
“Fortunately we’ve got six of the seven checked off,” he said.
“I would expect that the remaining one would be checked off in the near future.”
He said the work of public health nurses in tracing contacts of infected people has been invaluable in controlling the spread of COVID in Saratoga County.
“Once those positives have been confirmed, having them go out and track down everyone they’ve been in touch with … that is probably a big reason why it’s been manageable for the most part,” Hellwig said.
“In some cases it could be dozens of people.”
Since the pandemic reached the area, 2,040 people have been instructed to go into quarantine or isolation in Saratoga County, nearly 1 in 100 residents.
When the Capital Region meets the seventh metric and begins to reopen, Saratoga County officials will add a new role: Helping businesses get back on their feet.
The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday announced its new reopening advisory group, a group of government and business leaders chaired by Waterford Supervisor Jack Lawler.
The county will become a sort of clearinghouse, Hellwig said.
“There’s been a lot of interest and questions from the business community."
"Part of the county’s role here is to provide as much assistance it can,” he said.
THE DETAILS
For purposes of reopening, the Capital Region is defined as Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties.
The Mohawk Valley is defined as Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie counties.
The seven metrics that a region must meet to reopen are:
• A 14-day decline in net COVID hospitalizations or fewer than 15 new hospitalizations per day on a three-day average;
• A 14-day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths per day on a three day average;
• Fewer than two new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents per day;
• At least 30% of hospital beds must be vacant;
• At least 30% of ICU beds must be vacant;
• At least 30 out of each 1,000 residents must be tested each month;
• At least 30 infection contract tracers must be hired per 100,000 residents.
The Capital Region and four other regions are given conditional approval on this last metric — they are labeled “expected” because they have personnel in place or in training and are expected to meet the minimum number of tracers shortly.
Statewide, 1,225,113 people had been tested for COVID-19 infections as of Tuesday morning; 338,485 of them have been confirmed positive and 21,845 have died.
An additional number of New Yorkers has died but not been included in the death toll because of reporting errors and limitations.
In the Capital Region, two new deaths were reported Tuesday, both in Columbia County.
https://dailygazette.com/article/2020/0 ... d-19-eases
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
THE TROY RECORD
"Rensselaer County reports two new COVID-19 cases Wednesday"
By Nicholas Buonanno nbuonanno@medianewsgroup.com @NickBuonanno on Twitter
May 13, 2020
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. — The county only saw two new positive coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
The two new cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 441.
Along with the two new cases, the county also announced the death of an 88-year-old Stephentown man from COVID-19 in a Massachusetts medical facility.
The county has now seen 26 deaths from COVID-19.
The new cases include:
• A new case involving a 70-year-old Sand Lake man.
• A new case involving a 28-year-old Troy woman.
The county now has five residents in the hospital, and two in ICU.
There are over 650 cases in monitor quarantine.
There have been 4,998 tests administered to residents.
The county also announced 11 cases cleared for recovery, bringing the total of cleared cases to 267.
"We are making progress clearing cases every day, and still are seeing over half of our cases be cleared."
"That is definitely good news for our county," Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said.
However, the county saw the region they have been included in slide back from meeting six out of seven metrics to only meeting five out of seven metrics.
The two metrics not yet met include deaths in hospitals and overall hospitalizations.
"This is a disappointment, especially because these numbers have largely been flattened or reduced in recent days."
"We believe our county is meeting the requirements needed to open, especially if the state removed nursing homes from the calculations," McLaughlin said.
With the county now at 26 deaths, McLaughlin noted the county has seen 17 deaths of residents at private nursing homes.
The county has seen a considerable drop in hospitalizations, from 20 three weeks ago to Wednesday's total of five.
"We believe the region is ready to carefully open on a measured basis, allowing for return of needed and quality of life services with reasonable restrictions while maintaining social distancing and crowd reduction goals," McLaughlin said.
The IMA Group with Lab Corp will be testing at Hudson Valley Community College Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
People can make appointments by calling 1-800-245-4245, although appointments are not necessary.
Whitney Young Health Center will also be testing at various locations during the week.
To make an appointment, call 518-465-4771, extension 0.
Whitney Young will host a clinic at the Rensselaer City Hall, 62 Washington St., on Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Also, on Friday, Whitney Young will return to the County Office Building from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
On Friday, Whitney Young will also be doing testing at their Lansingburgh location from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
“Our test sites are going very well in the county,” Rensselaer County Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas said.
Brunswick Central School District Superintendent Angelina Maloney joined McLaughlin on Wednesday to discuss how the pandemic has affected her district.
“Balancing a budget is really a disaster this year,” Maloney said.
Maloney went on to talk about how the district set up external WiFi in its parking lot for students who may not have access to reliable broadband.
“We’re just trying to do what’s best for the kids,” Maloney said.
Maloney also spoke about distance learning and the importance of classroom instruction in the future.
“Developmentally, kids need socialization,” Maloney said.
A breakdown of cases by municipality:
Troy - 143
East Greenbush - 47
Nassau - 7
Brunswick - 21
Hoosick - 7
Sand Lake - 13
Schodack - 30
Stephentown - 8
North Greenbush - 46
Schaghticoke - 72 *
Pittstown - 9
Petersburgh - 3
Grafton - 4
Poestenkill - 3
Rensselaer - 25
Berlin - 3
(* includes 58 confirmed cases at the Diamond Hill adult care facility)
A breakdown of cases by age:
0 to 19 - 26
20 to 29 - 82
30 to 39 - 77
40 to 49 - 47
50 to 59 - 66
60 to 69 - 55
70 to 79 - 47
80 to 89 - 22
90 to 99 - 19
100 - 1
https://www.troyrecord.com/news/local-n ... d38e3.html
"Rensselaer County reports two new COVID-19 cases Wednesday"
By Nicholas Buonanno nbuonanno@medianewsgroup.com @NickBuonanno on Twitter
May 13, 2020
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. — The county only saw two new positive coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
The two new cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 441.
Along with the two new cases, the county also announced the death of an 88-year-old Stephentown man from COVID-19 in a Massachusetts medical facility.
The county has now seen 26 deaths from COVID-19.
The new cases include:
• A new case involving a 70-year-old Sand Lake man.
• A new case involving a 28-year-old Troy woman.
The county now has five residents in the hospital, and two in ICU.
There are over 650 cases in monitor quarantine.
There have been 4,998 tests administered to residents.
The county also announced 11 cases cleared for recovery, bringing the total of cleared cases to 267.
"We are making progress clearing cases every day, and still are seeing over half of our cases be cleared."
"That is definitely good news for our county," Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said.
However, the county saw the region they have been included in slide back from meeting six out of seven metrics to only meeting five out of seven metrics.
The two metrics not yet met include deaths in hospitals and overall hospitalizations.
"This is a disappointment, especially because these numbers have largely been flattened or reduced in recent days."
"We believe our county is meeting the requirements needed to open, especially if the state removed nursing homes from the calculations," McLaughlin said.
With the county now at 26 deaths, McLaughlin noted the county has seen 17 deaths of residents at private nursing homes.
The county has seen a considerable drop in hospitalizations, from 20 three weeks ago to Wednesday's total of five.
"We believe the region is ready to carefully open on a measured basis, allowing for return of needed and quality of life services with reasonable restrictions while maintaining social distancing and crowd reduction goals," McLaughlin said.
The IMA Group with Lab Corp will be testing at Hudson Valley Community College Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
People can make appointments by calling 1-800-245-4245, although appointments are not necessary.
Whitney Young Health Center will also be testing at various locations during the week.
To make an appointment, call 518-465-4771, extension 0.
Whitney Young will host a clinic at the Rensselaer City Hall, 62 Washington St., on Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Also, on Friday, Whitney Young will return to the County Office Building from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
On Friday, Whitney Young will also be doing testing at their Lansingburgh location from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
“Our test sites are going very well in the county,” Rensselaer County Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas said.
Brunswick Central School District Superintendent Angelina Maloney joined McLaughlin on Wednesday to discuss how the pandemic has affected her district.
“Balancing a budget is really a disaster this year,” Maloney said.
Maloney went on to talk about how the district set up external WiFi in its parking lot for students who may not have access to reliable broadband.
“We’re just trying to do what’s best for the kids,” Maloney said.
Maloney also spoke about distance learning and the importance of classroom instruction in the future.
“Developmentally, kids need socialization,” Maloney said.
A breakdown of cases by municipality:
Troy - 143
East Greenbush - 47
Nassau - 7
Brunswick - 21
Hoosick - 7
Sand Lake - 13
Schodack - 30
Stephentown - 8
North Greenbush - 46
Schaghticoke - 72 *
Pittstown - 9
Petersburgh - 3
Grafton - 4
Poestenkill - 3
Rensselaer - 25
Berlin - 3
(* includes 58 confirmed cases at the Diamond Hill adult care facility)
A breakdown of cases by age:
0 to 19 - 26
20 to 29 - 82
30 to 39 - 77
40 to 49 - 47
50 to 59 - 66
60 to 69 - 55
70 to 79 - 47
80 to 89 - 22
90 to 99 - 19
100 - 1
https://www.troyrecord.com/news/local-n ... d38e3.html
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
NEWS10 ABC
"Rennselaer County coronavirus update, one new death reported"
Posted: May 13, 2020 / 04:45 PM EDT / Updated: May 13, 2020 / 04:45 PM EDT
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Officials said Wednesday that an 88-year-old Stephentown man died from COVID-19 in a Massachusetts medical facility.
There have been 26 COVID-19 related deaths in the county.
Officials said that there have been 441 accumulative confirmed cases since testing began.
Of those 441 cases, 267 people have been cleared of the virus.
There are five people being treated in the hospital, three of those cases are from the Diamond Hill adult care facility and one from The Eddy.
Two patients remain in the ICU.
The two new cases reported Wednesday include:
• a 70-year-old Sand Lake man
• a 28-year-old Troy woman
https://www.news10.com/news/rennselaer- ... -reported/
"Rennselaer County coronavirus update, one new death reported"
Posted: May 13, 2020 / 04:45 PM EDT / Updated: May 13, 2020 / 04:45 PM EDT
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Officials said Wednesday that an 88-year-old Stephentown man died from COVID-19 in a Massachusetts medical facility.
There have been 26 COVID-19 related deaths in the county.
Officials said that there have been 441 accumulative confirmed cases since testing began.
Of those 441 cases, 267 people have been cleared of the virus.
There are five people being treated in the hospital, three of those cases are from the Diamond Hill adult care facility and one from The Eddy.
Two patients remain in the ICU.
The two new cases reported Wednesday include:
• a 70-year-old Sand Lake man
• a 28-year-old Troy woman
https://www.news10.com/news/rennselaer- ... -reported/
Re: COVID IN RENSSELAER COUNTY, NY - A CASE STUDY
NEWS10 ABC
"Rensselaer County coronavirus update"
News
Posted: May 14, 2020 / 04:49 PM EDT / Updated: May 14, 2020 / 05:34 PM EDT
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – New data released Thursday show that there have been 450 total cases since testing began.
Of those 450 cases, 274 people have made a full recovery.
There have been 26 COVID-19 related deaths in the county including 17 nursing home residents.
The nine new cases reported Thursday include;
• a 22-year-old Troy woman
• a 56-year-old Troy woman
• a 36-year-old Troy man
• a 24-year-old Troy woman
• a 26-year-old Troy man
• a 27-year-old Grafton woman
• a 59-year-old East Greenbush man
• a 33-year-old Rensselaer man
• a 55-year-old Rensselaer woman
https://www.news10.com/news/rensselaer- ... update-16/
"Rensselaer County coronavirus update"
News
Posted: May 14, 2020 / 04:49 PM EDT / Updated: May 14, 2020 / 05:34 PM EDT
RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – New data released Thursday show that there have been 450 total cases since testing began.
Of those 450 cases, 274 people have made a full recovery.
There have been 26 COVID-19 related deaths in the county including 17 nursing home residents.
The nine new cases reported Thursday include;
• a 22-year-old Troy woman
• a 56-year-old Troy woman
• a 36-year-old Troy man
• a 24-year-old Troy woman
• a 26-year-old Troy man
• a 27-year-old Grafton woman
• a 59-year-old East Greenbush man
• a 33-year-old Rensselaer man
• a 55-year-old Rensselaer woman
https://www.news10.com/news/rensselaer- ... update-16/