The coronavirus crisis at New York’s nursing homes is even worse than previously thought. Monday night, the state Department of Health issued new data, adding more than 1,600 people who were presumed to have died of the virus in nursing homes, but did not have a confirmed diagnosis, to the official toll.

As of May 3, according to the new data, 4,813 people had died from the virus in nursing homes. The new data does not include nursing home residents who died in hospitals. The number of deaths of nursing home residents, either at nursing homes or in hospitals, stood at 3,025 on April 28, and another approximately 100 people died at nursing homes from April 29 to May 2, according to state figures.

Townhall reports – Very elderly Americans are among the most vulnerable to this disease in our society. This raises serious questions about some of the decisions made by New York’s leaders, whose mandates almost certainly contributed to the extreme risk in nursing homes that have resulted in so many deaths:

Neal Nibur has lived in a nursing home for about a year, ever since he had a bad bout of pneumonia. Now, the 80-year-old man has not only his own health to worry about but that of his neighbors at the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., residence. Four new patients recently arrived from the hospital with Covid-19. They were admitted for one reason, according to staff members: A state guideline says nursing homes cannot refuse to take patients from hospitals solely because they have the coronavirus. “I don’t like them playing Russian roulette with my life,” said Mr. Nibur, who is on oxygen…At the epicenter of the outbreak, New York issued a strict new rule last month: Nursing homes must readmit residents sent to hospitals with the coronavirus and accept new patients as long as they are deemed “medically stable.” California and New Jersey have also said that nursing homes should take in such patients. Homes are allowed to turn patients away if they claim they can’t care for them safely — but administrators say they worry that refusing patients could provoke regulatory scrutiny, and advocates say it could result in a loss of revenue.

Nursing homes were required by the state to accept Coronavirus-positive patients. And that’s not all:

The state Health Department allowed nurses and other staff who tested positive for the coronavirus to continue treating COVID-19 patients at an upstate nursing home, The Post has learned. State officials signed off on the move during an April 10 conference call that excluded local officials from Steuben County, who protested the move…The state Health Department’s decision to allow coronavirus-positive nurses to continue working at Hornell Gardens came after two days of testing revealed that one in three of the facility’s residents and staff had the deadly virus. It came after officials reported three deaths at the facility, Wheeler said.
In fact, this was statewide policy, reversed only a week ago

NY’s Governor Andrew Cuomo isn’t the liberal CEO of a state who’s taking heat for the incredible number of patients dying in their nursing homes.

Mercury News reports – Gov. Gavin Newsom is recklessly pushing to place more coronavirus patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities while COVID-19 cases and deaths are mounting rapidly in California’s care residences for the elderly.

State data shows that at least 41 percent of all known coronavirus deaths in California have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Meanwhile, the number of nursing home deaths jumped 51% in eight days from April 23-May 1. And deaths in assisted living facilities nearly doubled between April 20-May 3.

Clearly, eldercare facilities have become hotspots for the spread of the virus. And, as we all know by now, the death rate from COVID-19 escalates with age. But, as the cases and deaths mount, the state continues to press for placing more coronavirus patients in the facilities, while hiding data about individual facilities from families and the public.

When it comes to care facilities for the elderly, Newsom’s actions have been misguided and dangerous, with disregard for the state’s inadequate testing capacity. And his administration’s refusal to provide transparent data on individual facilities’ cases and deaths is inexcusable.

The governor last week issued an offer to pay, in some cases $1,000 per day, to assisted living facilities to house COVID-19 patients. That comes on top of his earlier directive that nursing homes should expect to take coronavirus patients.