New York state nursing homes are experiencing 50 percent more deaths than figures reported by the state health department, according to a report released Thursday by Attorney General Letitia James. Separately, health officials published new data showing that medical staff at these facilities appear to be passing on COVID-19 vaccines despite being first in line.
Since the start of the pandemic, the New York State Department of Health has reported 8,711 deaths among residents at long-term care facilities. That number accounts only for the people who died at the facilities themselves. If a resident with COVID-19 symptoms was sent to a hospital and passed away there, they were not counted in the long-term facilities' death toll, as Gothamist reported in May of last year.
The attorney general’s report took a detailed look at deaths in 62 facilities and found vast discrepancies. State health officials reported seven COVID-19 deaths at one facility, but James’s investigation said 31 fatalities should have been counted under the broader definition. Another showed 11 deaths in health department records, when in truth, 27 of its residents had died.
While the state’s overall numbers account for people who died in hospitals, it has been impossible to estimate the toll of the outbreaks tied to certain nursing homes. The state still does not publicly report COVID-19 infections at nursing homes.
Susan Dooha, the executive director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled, New York, called the report’s findings devastating but not surprising. “We knew that these problems exist, she said.
59-year-old Anayancy Houseman spent days searching for information about COVID-19 outbreaks at Staten Island nursing homes after her 84-year-old mother, who had been living alone and diligently isolating throughout the pandemic, fell and needed rehabilitation services.
“I was very worried about what to do,” Houseman said. “If I had known that they had had deaths or that they had had outbreaks, me and my sister would have probably made the decision to let my mother go home.”
Her mother moved into Silver Lake Specialized Rehabilitation and Care Center, where she ultimately caught the coronavirus. She was sent to Staten Island University Hospital, where she died in early December.
The state had reported two COVID-19 deaths of residents at Silver Lake, but Houseman’s mother wasn’t one of them. “I put my trust in this place, that she was going to be taken care of,” Houseman said.
These revelations arrived alongside an update to the state’s COVID-19 vaccine tracker, which is now reporting immunization rates among residents in these facilities and their nursing staff.
Residents are much more likely to accept the vaccine, with three of every four in the state already vaccinated. In contrast, less than half of New York’s skilled nurses have been immunized against COVID-19.
The city ranks lowest in vaccination rate among nursing home staff, while the North Country region is best. This latter region is also recording the highest level of vaccine uptake for residents.
State lawmakers of both parties condemned the AG report’s finding, and Republican Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt even called for the resignation of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker.
“The Department of Health has betrayed the public trust,” he said. “To repair that broken trust, I am calling on Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to resign.”
In a lengthy statement in response, Zucker reiterated that the state counts the additional deaths with hospital deaths overall, blamed the federal government for a lack of unilateral reporting procedures, and said that nursing homes that were not following state guidelines would be held accountable.
“This is still an ongoing crisis and we will continue deploying every resource possible to ensuring the health and safety of every single New Yorker,” Zucker said.
COVID-19 battered nursing homes during last spring’s peak. At the time, some facilities had reported feeling abandoned by the state, unable to access stockpiles of personal protective gear, testing supplies, and backup staff, which were prioritized for hospitals. And family members trying to connect with sick loved ones, or learn about outbreaks that might impact their loved ones, have often been left in the dark. So far, these centers have been shielded from liability for their pandemic actions, and James is calling for these protections to be removed.
James is calling on the state to report the additional deaths, improve oversight on infection control, and find ways to boost staffing. The Attorney General’s report found other serious failures to provide adequate care in nursing homes during the height of the pandemic, such as failing to isolate residents who tested positive for COVID-19, not enough tests for employees, and forcing sick staff to work.
“Nursing homes residents and workers deserve to live and work in safe environments,” James said. “As the pandemic and our investigations continue, it is imperative that we understand why the residents of nursing homes in New York unnecessarily suffered at such an alarming rate.”
Editor's note: This story was updated to include a statement from Howard Zucker.