TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey’s nursing home disaster continues to deepen.
Forbes reported this week that 1 in 10 senior nursing home residents have died due to COVID-19; the publication also noted that New Jersey “ordered nursing homes to accept patients with active COVID-19 infections who were being discharged from hospitals.”
–
“Nursing home residents are paying dearly for actions taken by the Administration,” said Senator Joe Pennacchio (R-26), a leading critic of the Murphy Administration’s COVID-19 response. “New data indicates that since the outbreak, one in 10 residents of senior care facilities have died from COVID-19. The real number may actually be higher, much higher because statistics don’t include long-term patients who died after being transferred to hospitals. Also not included in the numbers are staff members who perished while taking care of residents in these facilities. The health department’s recording practices obscure the loss of life among our seniors, but cannot erase the reality.”
“It was a recipe for disaster,” added Pennacchio. “These mistakes sealed the fate of thousands of vulnerable senior citizens who were literally trapped alone in homes where COVID was spreading like wildfire. In an apparent attempt to save bed space in hospital ICU units, nursing homes residents were sacrificed.”
11,401 New Jerseyans have died from COVID-19, 5,751 of which lived in long-term care facilities.
–
