Former New York Gov. George Pataki on Tuesday railed on current Gov. Andrew Cuomo for instituting “one of the dumbest policies” any governor has ever instituted in America in forcing nursing homes to test for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.
Pataki also slammed Cuomo’s decision to tax medical professionals who came to New York from other parts of the country at Cuomo’s request to help coronavirus patients.
“For him to say that he can’t do this is ridiculous,” Pataki said during an appearance on Newsmax TV’s “Spicer & Co.”
“You ask people to come, you need their help in a time of crisis, and out of the goodness of their hearts they’re coming from around the country to help New York through this crisis, risking their lives. Then they say, ‘Oh by the way, we’re going to send you a tax bill.’ It is absurd, it makes no sense.”
Cuomo earlier this week issued a series of new rules for nursing homes in hopes of curbing the spread of the virus – more than 5,300 New Yorkers living in nursing homes have died from COVID-19 – saying hospitals cannot release patients to those sites unless they test negative for the virus.
Previously, the health department's order stated "[nursing homes] are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission."
Pataki called the original policy “one of the dumbest policies I think any governor has ever instituted in America. On March 25, he orders nursing homes to take COVID positive patients and by the way, says if they’re coming from a hospital and they have been tested you can’t ask if they’re COVID positive. The nursing homes weren’t able to handle this, they weren’t ready for this.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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