ALBANY – Governor Cuomo on Sunday said he would issue an executive order that all nursing homes and adult care facilities test all personnel for COVID-19 two times per week and report any positive results to the state health department by the next day.
The executive order also mandates that hospitals cannot discharge a patient to a nursing home unless that patient tests negative for COVID-19.
All nursing home and adult care facility administrators will be required to submit a plan on how they will accomplish this testing and a certificate of compliance with this executive order to the State Health Department by Friday, May 15.
Any nursing home or adult care facility found to be in violation of the executive order may have its operating certificate suspended or revoke or may be subject to a penalty for non-compliance pf $2,000 per violation per day.
Also, any personnel who refuse to be tested for COVID-19 will be considered to have outdated or incomplete health assessments and therefore will be prohibited from working in the facility until testing is performed.
The governor also announced the Department of Health and Human Services is distributing a promised treatment called Remdesivir that has been shown to help patients infected with the virus to recover more quickly. The federal agency has sent New York enough antiviral to treat 2,900 at 15 hospitals and will send more doses in the coming weeks to treat 500 more patients, including children, at additional New York hospitals.
