New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing rising criticism over a controversial directive in March requiring the state’s nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients from hospitals, when few had the equipment or training to deal with those patients.
The directive, dated March 25, stated (original emphasis): “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
The New York Times reported Friday that “California, New Jersey and New York have made nursing homes accept Covid-19 patients from hospitals.” The Times added: “Although there is no evidence so far that the practice has allowed infections to spread in nursing homes, many residents and advocates fear that it is only a matter of time.”
Paul Plante says
First off, relying on the New York Times for accurate reporting or up-to-date news on pretty much everything is like relying on Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, also known as Baghdad Bob or Comical Ali, for accurate reportage of the Iraq war back when which he had Saddam Hussein winning, which brings us to this inane statement, to wit:
“Although there is no evidence so far that the practice has allowed infections to spread in nursing homes, many residents and advocates fear that it is only a matter of time.”
Are they kidding?
Or are they just, plain stupid?
And they quite obviously do not bother to do any research before they make their stupid statements, because here in upstate New York, COVID is in the nursing homes, and not surprisingly, it is killing people, which has been a subject of the news for more than a day now, which makes one have to wonder why the New York Times is unaware of it.
If one were to actually research the subject, which the New York Times obviously didn’t, they would have found under the heading “Official Updates Coronavirus | COVID-19 in New York | NY.gov” for nursing home deaths due to COVID, as follows:
Deaths: Individual Nursing Homes
http://www.health.ny.gov
Data as of 5/1
Name of facility County located in Number of COVID deaths
Schervier Nursing Care Center Bronx 6
Methodist Home for Nursing and Rehabilitation Bronx 6
BronxCare Special Care Center Bronx 7
Split Rock Rehabilitation and Health Care Center Bronx 8
East Haven Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Bronx 12
St Vincent Depaul Residence Bronx 13
Bronx Gardens Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Bronx 17
St Patricks Home Bronx 17
Bronx Center for Rehabilitation & Health Care Bronx 18
The Plaza Rehab and Nursing Center Bronx 37
Kings Harbor Multicare Center Bronx 46
Ferncliff Nursing Home Co Inc Dutchess 7
Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Erie 9
Father Baker Manor Erie 14
Harris Hill Nursing Facility, LLC Erie 11
Garden Gate Health Care Facility Erie 14
Downtown Brooklyn Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Kings 8
Haym Solomon Home for the Aged Kings 7
Oxford Nursing Home Kings 7
Seagate Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Kings 7
Sea Crest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Kings 11
Shore View Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Kings 14
Dr Susan Smith Mckinney Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Kings 17
Bensonhurst Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare Kings 34
Cobble Hill Health Center, Inc Kings 55
St Johns Health Care Corporation Monroe 11
Garden Care Center Nassau 8
Sands Point Center for Health and Rehabilitation Nassau 8
A Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility Nassau 7
Excel at Woodbury for Rehabilitation and Nursing, LLC Nassau 8
Lynbrook Restorative Therapy and Nursing Nassau 8
Glen Cove Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation Nassau 9
Hempstead Park Nursing Home Nassau 8
Townhouse Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing Nassau 8
Highfield Gardens Care Center of Great Neck Nassau 15
The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Great Neck Nassau 15
White Oaks Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Nassau 17
Sunharbor Manor Nassau 17
Central Island Healthcare Nassau 20
Long Beach Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Nassau 23
New Gouverneur Hospital SNF New York 10
Northern Manhattan Rehabilitation and Nursing Center New York 9
Isabella Geriatric Center Inc New York 13
Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center New York 21
The New Jewish Home, Manhattan New York 26
The Riverside New York 30
Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home Co Inc New York 32
Schervier Pavilion Orange 8
Montgomery Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Orange 10
The Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation Orange 25
Putnam Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Putnam 7
Elmhurst Care Center, Inc Queens 6
Silvercrest Queens 6
Bezalel Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Queens 7
Rego Park Nursing Home Queens 7
The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Queens Queens 6
Dry Harbor Nursing Home Queens 10
Ozanam Hall of Queens Nursing Home Inc Queens 10
Caring Family Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Queens 10
Cliffside Rehabilitation & Residential Health Care Center Queens 16
Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing of Central Queens, LLC Queens 27
NYS Veterans Home in NYC Queens 19
Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care & Rehab Queens 54
Holliswood Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare Queens 42
Franklin Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Queens 45
Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Inc Richmond 7
Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center Richmond 45
Tolstoy Foundation Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Rockland 9
St. James Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center Suffolk 6
Luxor Nursing and Rehabilitation at Sayville Suffolk 6
Peconic Landing at Southold Suffolk 8
Gurwin Jewish Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Suffolk 8
Good Samaritan Nursing and Rehabilitation Care Center Suffolk 16
Island Nursing and Rehab Center Suffolk 10
Our Lady of Consolation Nursing and Rehabilitative Care Center Suffolk 22
Luxor Nursing and Rehabilitation at Mills Pond Suffolk 22
Apex Rehabilitation & Care Center Suffolk 28
Long Island State Veterans Home Suffolk 34
Carillon Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Suffolk 30
Elderwood at Waverly Tioga 6
Sutton Park Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation Westchester 6
Westchester Center for Rehabilitation & NursingWestchester 6
North Westchester Restorative Therapy and Nursing Center Westchester 8
Martine Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Westchester 11
St Cabrini Nursing Home Westchester 16
The New Jewish Home, Sarah Neuman Westchester 17
The Wartburg Home Westchester 26
Regency Extended Care Center Westchester 30
Note: Deaths reported as of 5/1.
Some nursing homes include presumed COVID-19 deaths as well as confirmed COVID-19 deaths. Future updates will separate the categories.
Any nursing homes reporting fewer than 5 deaths were excluded for privacy purposes.
And that list is not complete because it is missing COVID deaths in nursing homes in upstate New York, as in the NEWS10 ABC story out yesterday entitled “12 COVID-19 deaths reported at nursing home.”
They also missed a story on the subject in The Daily Gazette, an upstate paper, entitled “State to probe nursing homes for COVID-19 compliance – Cuomo said some not following state rules as they struggle with surge of residents deaths” by John Cropley on April 23, 2020, where we had as follows concerning the news the NYT seems quite ignorant about, to wit:
ALBANY — The state Department of Health and Attorney General’s Office will investigate nursing homes that don’t follow executive orders such as reporting COVID-19 test results and deaths to their residents’ families.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement of the initiative Thursday is the latest of many steps undertaken by state officials as the death toll soars in elder-care facilities.
An online county-by-county tally maintained by the state Department of Health showed 2,902 COVID-related deaths in nursing homes and 638 in adult-care facilities on Thursday.
However, the data are self-reported by the facilities themselves and in some cases are inaccurate, outdated or both.
Rensselaer County officials, for example, reported the fifth death at Diamond Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation on Thursday.
But the state tally shows only one nursing home death in all the Rensselaer County and does not include Diamond Hill among the named facilities.
The state’s stance on nursing home data has been evolving, with officials first refusing to report data, then reporting only county-level numbers, then reporting only certain facilities by name.
Nursing home deaths have become an increasingly prominent part of Cuomo’s daily briefings on the COVID-19 crisis, with reporters peppering him on what the state is going to do.
His response has been that these are mostly private facilities that are paid to perform a task, and they must perform it within state and federal regulations.
“The state Department of Health and the attorney general are going to be commencing an investigation to make sure all of those policies are in place and being followed,” Cuomo said.
“If they’re not being followed, they can be subjected to a fine or they can lose their license.”
“It’s that simple.”
Cuomo’s executive orders and directives apply specifically to nursing homes, which are Article 28 facilities.
Most of the deaths in the state have been at nursing homes rather than adult care facilities — 2,902 vs. 638 by the state’s incomplete tally.
Paul Plante says
There is so much conflicting BULL**** flowing here with respect to Andy Cuomo and COVID, it is not funny, and the source of the conflicting BULL**** in large part not surprisingly is Andy Cuomo, himself.
Consider this article above here from The Daily Gazette entitled “State to probe nursing homes for COVID-19 compliance – Cuomo said some not following state rules as they struggle with surge of residents deaths” by John Cropley on April 23, 2020, where Andy Cuomo states thusly:
Nursing home deaths have become an increasingly prominent part of Cuomo’s daily briefings on the COVID-19 crisis, with reporters peppering him on what the state is going to do.
His response has been that these are mostly private facilities that are paid to perform a task, and they must perform it within state and federal regulations.
end quotes
Which is a HORSE**** statement from out the mouth of Andy about nursing homes having to follow state regulations, because in March of this year, AFTER the Democrat-controlled NYS Assembly and Senate voted in a midnight, backroom deal to suspend the New York State Constitution and make Andy Cuomo a dictator in fact, our dictator Andy suspended those regulations and made the nursing home industry a wild-west shoot-em-up free-for-all, health and well-being of the inmates of those hellholes be damned, as we clearly can discern from the POLITICO article “Here’s every law and regulation Cuomo had suspended during coronavirus crisis” by Bill Mahoney on 03/19/2020, to wit:
ALBANY — When Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis on March 7, he gained extraordinary powers over the everyday lives of the state’s 19.5 million residents.
Thanks in part to a statutory change which the Legislature approved at the beginning of March, Cuomo’s declaration means he can change or suspend laws unilaterally, so long as doing so assists the state in its disaster response.
POLITICO has sorted through all of the laws and regulations that Cuomo has suspended and translated them into plain English.
HEALTH
— The requirements for assessing patients entering long-term care have been relaxed.
So have the requirements for screening patients entering nursing homes.
— A regulation requiring patients entering nursing homes to have gotten approval from a physician first is no longer effective.
end quotes
As to those virtually unlimited dictatorial powers over our lives the Democrat-controlled legislature in the corrupt third-world ****-hole of New York handed Andy Cuomo, they were the subject of a Gothamist article entitled “Albany’s Dead-Of-Night Coronavirus Vote Gives Cuomo Sweeping New Emergency Powers” by Ross Barkan on March 5, 2020, to wit:
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the state legislature approved $40 million in emergency funding to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak in New York.
Buried within the legislation is a provision that has alarmed progressive lawmakers and advocates: an extraordinary, broad, and little-understood expansion of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s emergency powers.
end quotes
Focus on the words “little-understood expansion of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s emergency powers.”
Andy Cuomo now has the same powers over the lives of the people in New York State as Joe Stalin in Russia had over the lives of the people of Ukraine during his Holodomor, as well as the same disdain, as we can clearly see from a series of essays I wrote on the subject back in 2016 collectively known as the Talk-1300 Report ( http://thelivyjrfiles.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=139 ) which takes us back to that article, as follows:
“I’m scared or concerned because I don’t know what the governor has in mind,” said Assembly member Richard Gottfried, the longtime chair of his chamber’s health committee.
end quotes
That was on March 5th, and now that it is May 3rd, and people are dying in droves in New York state because of Andy Cuomo shipping COVID patients all over the state like so many “smallpox blankets” so that he has managed to get COVID into every county in the state to get the body count higher, we can certainly see that that assembly member had every right to be concerned or scared, which takes us back to the Gothamist, as follows:
With the support of both legislative leaders, the emergency funding bill overwhelmingly passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly and State Senate.
Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate Majority Leader, and Carl Heastie, the Speaker of the State Assembly, pushed for its passage, overriding the concerns of the health committee chairs in both chambers.
Cuomo did not offer a detailed explanation of his push to expand his emergency powers, telling reporters that “these are uncharted territories” and that “government has to respond.”
end quotes
That statement of Cuomo’s about “these are uncharted territories” and that “government has to respond” of course reminds me of what happened in Germany back on 8 February 1933 with the Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State, which Order stated thusly:
On the basis of Article 48 paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the German Reich, the following is ordered in defense against Communist state-endangering acts of violence:
§ 1. Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124 and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice.
It is therefore permissible to restrict the rights of personal freedom [habeas corpus], freedom of (opinion) expression, including the freedom of the press, the freedom to organize and assemble, the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications.
Warrants for House searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.
end quotes
That pretty much details what happened here in New York in wee hours of Tuesday morning, March 3, 2020, when constitutional, and by the way, “republican government” pursuant to Section 4 of Article IV of the United States Constitution, “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government,” in New York state disappeared without a whimper thanks to the Democrat-controlled legislature, and with respect to the “Republican form” of government guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, a “republic” is a form of government in which the country is considered a “public matter”, not the private concern or property of the rulers, which is what the Democrats have turned New York state into, and in the context of American constitutional law, the definition of republic refers specifically to a form of government in which elected individuals represent the citizen body and exercise power according to the rule of law under a constitution.
When the Constitution is gone, as is the case now in New York state, it is no longer a “republican form of government,” which violates the United States Constitution, but with the federal government shut down, as well, there is no way to challenge that, and we cannot think that the Democrats in the federal government will do anything to thwart Andy Cuomo’s assumption of dictatorial powers in New York that put him not only in charge of the state’s military forces, but grants him exclusive power over the purse, as well, along with the right to suspend laws that he does not like, which is a grant of legislative and judicial authority to the executive, as was the case in Germany in 1933, which takes us back to the Gothamist, as follows:
The whole process was rushed, in typical Albany fashion.
Word came Monday afternoon that legislation would be coming to the floor from the governor’s office, Gottfried said.
The state’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, had met with Assembly Democrats for a briefing, making no mention of the need of additional emergency powers.
The Assembly and Senate hardly debated the bill.
It passed both houses after midnight, with little time to read it or seek outside counsel.
end quotes
There is what happens to our liberties when the Democrats have total control of our government as they intend to have come November of this year, when they hope to use this COVID hysteria being created by Andy Cuomo to take control of the presidency and the Senate, along with the House, which they already have absolute control over – Rule of Law and constitutional government disappear, which is what we are now living in this country, which has become the equivalent of Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
Getting back to the Gorhamist:
Though New York law already allows Cuomo to suspend provisions of any state or local statute that would delay in coping with a declared disaster, the new measure goes further, broadening the definition of disaster from a “past occurrence” to something that is “impending.”
The new law specifically added “disease outbreak” to a list of triggering events alongside “epidemic,” and gives Cuomo new power to issue directives “necessary to cope with” a broad list of potential disasters, from tornados to cyberattacks to volcanic eruptions.
end quotes
Volcanic eruptions?
Yeah, okay, Andy.
Getting back to the Gothamist:
The definition of disasters is general enough that critics fear Cuomo, a governor who already enjoys aggressively wielding executive power, can abuse the new law in a wide array of circumstances to override existing law.
end quotes
And as we can see with Andy’s decree to the nursing homes to take in COVID patients so as to insure the spread and raise the body count for partisan political purposes, that is exactly what has happened, which takes us to an NBC News article on the subject entitled “Coronavirus spreads in a New York nursing home forced to take recovering patients – “It’s reckless and careless,” said the granddaughter of a 96-year-old man whose family withdrew him from a Long Island nursing home” by Suzy Khimm on April 25, 2020, to wit:
But in New York, the controversy over the mandate has escalated as the virus has battered hospitals and nursing homes alike: The state not only has more coronavirus cases than anywhere in the country, but also the highest number of known long-term care deaths — at least 3,500 — related to the virus, according to the state health department.
A broad swath of nursing homes across the state have already accepted COVID-positive hospital patients in compliance with the mandate, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has openly criticized facilities for opposing it.
“They don’t have a right to object.”
“That is the rule and that is the regulation, and they have to comply with that,” Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a Thursday news conference.
end quotes
Sounds like something Joe Stalin would say in response to the Ukrainians complaining about being starved to death, or Hitler would say to those complaining about being incarcerated in his concentration camps, which takes us back to the Gothamist, as follows:
“It’s a reckless expansion of executive power,” said State Senator Julia Salazar, a Brooklyn Democrat who voted against the bill.
Part of the challenge of understanding the expansion is the lack of specificity in the bill language.
Since the governor already has expansive emergency powers, adding more could theoretically justify all kinds of maneuvers, like the declaration of martial law, unilateral travel restrictions, and mass quarantines.
The limits are largely unknown.
end quotes
When there is no Constitution, there are no longer any limits, period, as we are seeing with these nursing home deaths and Andy Cuomo’s well-established depraved in difference to human life and suffering, which again takes us back to the Gothamist, to wit:
Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou, a Manhattan Democrat, said Cuomo’s expansion of emergency powers deeply concerned her as an Asian-American legislator.
“I have an innate fear of what would happen if we allow our government to be able to weaponize fear and to be able to make a directive and have the power to order private citizens to do something without any checks and balances.”
As far as Gottfried understands, Cuomo’s new emergency powers would allow the governor to override the due process the people who are quarantined are entitled to under existing law, like a person being required to see a judge after being arrested for violating an order.
“Those are valuable safeguards,” Gottfried said.
“As best as I can tell, the new law does away with them if the governor chooses to.”
end quotes
Again, he and Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou, with her well-paced innate fear of what would happen if we allow Andy Cuomo to be able to weaponize fear and to be able to make a directive and have the power to order private citizens to do something without any checks and balances, were speaking on 5 March, and now that it is 3 May, we can see that those fears were indeed well-placed, although now that Andy is wasting the lives of the elderly in this state, and I happen to be one of them, it truly is a bit late for that now, which has older folks like me making sure to tell our families that if something were to happen to us, please God, don’t let us fall into the hands of Andy Cuomo and his “health commissioner” Howie Zucker so that we end up spending our last days in one of their HELL HOLES, which is what nursing homes and hospitals in New York state have now become as a result of all of Andy’s Edicts – do us a favor and let us die at home, in peace, instead!
Paul Plante says
5 March 2020
To: Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay
LOB Office 933
Albany, NY 12248
Re: The loss of our Constitution due to treachery and betrayal by New York State Assembly and Senate in violation of Section 4 of Article IV of the United States Constitution
Dear Assemblyman Barclay:
I am writing to you as an elderly upstate New York resident (Rensselaer County) who is a life-long resident of New York state, who is also a grandfather, and disabled veteran, and who was commended in writing by then-New York State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod in writing in 1988 for my integrity as an associate level public health engineer in the Rensselaer County Health District, and as such, quite frankly, I have some serious concerns about your statements in the Times Union article “With Legislature idle, Cuomo changed 262 laws in 55 days – Cuomo invokes executive powers during pandemic to changes to hundreds of laws and regulations” by Brendan J. Lyons on May 2, 2020, where you are quoted as saying:
“Let’s get through this crisis — and I don’t want to be pointing fingers,” Barclay said.
While the New York City metropolitan region quickly emerged as the hardest-hit area in the nation — including by far the highest number of fatalities attributed to COVID-19 — Cuomo has repeatedly touted his administration’s actions, contending New York acted faster than any other state, and has brushed aside criticism that his decision to shut down businesses and schools came days after it should have been done.
Barclay said the timing of those critical decisions in March need to be closely scrutinized, if nothing else to make sure New York is better prepared for any future pandemic.
“I think it’s a very atypical situation, and we all are flying blind,” he said.
“It certainly needs to be investigated.”
“Just maybe not right now.”
end quotes
Now, speaking as a citizen, and as a grandfather, that is the recipe for yet another cover-up and whitewash as happened in early-1989 when a Report of Investigation of corruption in the Rensselaer County Health District was buried, because if not addressed right now, those questions will never be asked, nor answered, and thus, nothing will change.
And thanks to the internet, that option of not pointing fingers has been foreclosed, as we concerned citizens are using the internet to conduct our own investigation, as a virtual citizen grand jury pursuant to §6 of Article I, the Bill of Rights of our Constitution, wherein is stated thusly:
§6. No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; nor shall he or she be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself or herself, providing, that any public officer who, upon being called before a grand jury to testify concerning the conduct of his or her present office or of any public office held by him or her within five years prior to such grand jury call to testify, or the performance of his or her official duties in any such present or prior offices, refuses to sign a waiver of immunity against subsequent criminal prosecution, or to answer any relevant question concerning such matters before such grand jury, shall by virtue of such refusal, be disqualified from holding any other public office or public employment for a period of five years from the date of such refusal to sign a waiver of immunity against subsequent prosecution, or to answer any relevant question concerning such matters before such grand jury, and shall be removed from his or her present office by the appropriate authority or shall forfeit his or her present office at the suit of the attorney-general.
end quotes
With that background established, let us start with some known facts here that you seem to be unaware of:
First of all, as to someone “blowing the bugle” about COVID-19, that in fact happened on 8 January 2020, when the CDC, sent out an official document that was distributed to state and local health officers, state and local epidemiologists, state and local laboratory directors, public information officers, HAN coordinators, and clinician organizations, wherein was stated as follows:
This is an official CDC Health Advisory
Distributed via the CDC Health Alert Network
January 8, 2020, 1615 ET (04:15 PM ET)
CDCHAN-00424
Summary
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring a reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology (PUE) with possible epidemiologic links to a large wholesale fish and live animal market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.
An outbreak investigation by local officials is ongoing in China; the World Health Organization (WHO) is the lead international public health agency.
Currently, there are no known U.S. cases nor have cases been reported in countries other than China.
CDC has established an Incident Management Structure to optimize domestic and international coordination if additional public health actions are required.
This HAN Advisory informs state and local health departments and health care providers about this outbreak and requests that health care providers ask patients with severe respiratory disease about travel history to Wuhan City.
end quotes
Speaking as an associate level public health engineer, one who was commended in writing for my integrity and knowledge of the Public Health Law by Dr. David Axelrod in 1988, I would say that that health alert should have started a process in New York state in January of this year that would have minimized the spread of COVID, but obviously didn’t.
So why, Mr. Assemblyman, did our public health infrastructure, starting with Howard Zucker, the health commissioner, fail so miserably?
Did the state Health Department not get this alert?
Was that a false statement by the CDC on 8 January 2020 that the distribution included state health commissioner Zucker?
Conversely, if the state Health Department did get this alert as the CDC asserts, what then happened to it, because fifty-four (54) days later, on 2 March 2020, the day BEFORE the Assembly and Senate of the State of New York awarded Andrew Cuomo dictatorial powers over our lives, as if we were chattel and no longer citizens, based on an alleged “emergency,” Rensselaer County put out a Press Release entitled “Rensselaer County Officials Working with State and Federal Officials on Coronavirus Issue,” where we were enlightened as follows:
With confirmed cases of coronavirus in the nation and the state, Rensselaer County health officials took part in calls with the Centers for Disease Control and the New York State Department of Health regarding the issue.
At this time, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the county.
Federal and state health officials have termed the spread of the illness nationally and in the state as “isolated” cases.
“We want residents to know that our team at the Health Department is monitoring this situation closely and working with state and federal officials to share information and get updates.”
“However, there is no need for undue concern or worry,” said County Executive Steve McLaughlin.
“We have been informed that New York State remains at a low risk for coronavirus.”
end quotes
Obviously, we older residents of Rensselaer County were betrayed by someone or someones in the state Health Department and/or the CDC with that Press Release, and now people are dying in Rensselaer County, some alone in their homes out of fear of spending their last days as a human guinea pig in some drug experiment in one of Andrew Cuomo’s COVID hospitals, and we demand answers now, not next week, or next month or next year when the Assembly Democrats who used this “emergency” to grant Andrew Cuomo the powers of a tyrant, which is a person who controls the army, the purse, and the legislative power in one person, like King George III possessed in 1776, which action by the Assembly and Senate in the midnight hours of 3 March 202, the day after we Rensselaer County residents were told by state health department officials that COVID was nothing to worry about, finally decide to get their act together and get the straight answers we want now, beginning with who at the state health department lied to us on 2 March, and if that was Howard Zucker, we demand his resignation for willfully be negligent and derelict in his duties as state Health Commissioner.
As to the comical farce on March 3, 2020, where the Assembly and Senate voted to turn us into a third-world banana republic with a tin-pot dictator in charge, §13 of Article III of our Constitition states in clear and unequivocal language that the enacting clause of all bills shall be “The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows,” and no law shall be enacted except by bill.
So we citizens are presented with the ludicrous and absurd and ridiculous proposition that it really was the People of the State of New York who willingly enacted a law that strips us of our liberty and rights pursuant to Article I of our Constitution by making Andrew Cuomo a dictator who despite his oath of office, “I do solemnly affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the position of governor according to the best of my ability and perform my duties in a manner consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York,” is allowed to disregard entirely §3 of Article IV of our Constitution, wherein is stated in clear and unequivocal regulatory language that, “(T)he governor shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, and shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.”
As the situation now stands, the governor no longer has to expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, nor does he have to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, and in fact, as was made clear by the Times Union, the governor is tossing out a multitude of laws he personally doesn’t like, which is the prerogative of a tyrant or dictator, not a constitutionally-limited governor of the State of New York.
And with respect to the protection and promotion of our health in this state, I would refer you to §3 of Article XVII of our Constitution wherein is stated, to wit: The protection and promotion of the health of the inhabitants of the state are matters of public concern and provision therefor shall be made by the state and by such of its subdivisions and in such manner, and by such means as the legislature shall from time to time determine. (New. Adopted by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938.)
How does the act of the Assembly and Senate on 3 March 2020 to grant Andrew Cuomo the exclusive right to set aside any part of the Public Health Law he doesn’t like or agree with comport with that section of our Constitution which makes the protection and promotion of the health of the inhabitants of the state matters of public concern, because speaking as an associate public health engineer and senior citizen here, the Assembly and Senate on March 3, 2020 threw the concept of the protection and promotion of our health being a matter of public concern right out the window in granting Andrew Cuomo power over our lives, and now people are dying as a result.
WHY?
And while we are on the timeline of events here, in a Gothamist article entitled “Albany’s Dead-Of-Night Coronavirus Vote Gives Cuomo Sweeping New Emergency Powers” by Ross Barkan on March 5, 2020, , there was the following set of quotes, to wit:
Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, a Manhattan Democrat, said Cuomo’s expansion of emergency powers deeply concerned her as an Asian-American legislator.
“One of my mentors was born inside an internment camp,” Niou said in an emotional Instagram video, referring to the unlawful detention of Japanese-American citizens during World War II.
“I have an innate fear of what would happen if we allow our government to be able to weaponize fear and to be able to make a directive and have the power to order private citizens to do something without any checks and balances.”
end quotes
And those very real concerns of Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou expressed in that Gothamist article bring us back to 9 January 2020, the day after the 8 January 2020 CDC alert, and Assembly Bill A-99, where there is some very disturbing language about “groups,” to wit:
New York State Assembly
Speaker Carl E. Heastie
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A99
SPONSOR: Perry
Such persons or group of people shall be detained in a medical facility or other appropriate facility designated by the governor or his or her delegate.
Subdivision 3 requires that any person or group removed or detained by order of the governor or his or her delegate shall be detained for as long as the department may direct.
Subdivision 6 provides that when a person or group who are detained for a period not exceeding three business days, he, she, or they, upon request, shall be afforded an opportunity to be heard.
If said persons need to be detained beyond three business days, they shall be provided with an additional commissioner’s order pursuant to subdivisions two and eight of this section.
Subdivision 7 requires that a person or group are detained for a period exceeding three business days and requests release, the governor, or his or her delegate, shall make an application for a court order authorizing such detention.
The application shall include a request for an expedited hearing.
Detention shall not continue for more than five business days in the absence of a court order authorizing such detention.
end quotes
What is that about, pray tell, this talk of “groups” who may be removed at will by Andrew Cuomo and placed where he wishes to place them, say in internment camps, or re-education camps, or Gulags?
What groups are we talking about there?
And that law, if enacted, makes us no better than were the people in Germany after the Reichstag Fire Decree in 1933, when their Constitution and laws were suspended.
What is going on here, Mr. Assemblyman?
We citizens who have been stripped of our rights pursuant to our Constitution want to know and demand an answer now, not next year or the year after.
Thanking you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter, I remain
Paul R. Plante, PE
Paul Plante says
8 May 2020
Assemblymember Carl E. Heastie
LOB 932
Albany, NY 12248
RE: the Cuomo Concentration Camp Bill
Dear Mr. Assemblymember:
In the course of conducting a forensic examination as a New York State licensed professional engineer further qualified to practice in New York State as an associate level public health engineer into the actions and/or inactions of New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker on and after 8 January 2020, when he was notified by the CDC in a Health Alert Network notification that COVID-19 represented an emerging public health threat, I came across a very disturbing Assembly Bill now known in upstate New York as the “Cuomo Concentration Camp Bill,” which piece of legislation bore your glowing endorsement, to wit:
New York State Assembly
Speaker Carl E. Heastie
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A99
SPONSOR: Perry
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the removal of cases, contacts and carriers of communicable diseases who are potentially dangerous to the public health
end quotes
In the body of the “Cuomo Concentration Camp Bill” which you are a champion of, it states as follows, to wit:
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2120-a to read as follows:
§ 2120-a. Removal and detention of cases, contacts and carriers who are or may be a danger to public health; other orders.
end quotes
Speaking as an associate level public health engineer who was twice commended in writing in 1988 by then-New York State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod for my integrity and knowledge of the New York State Public Health Law, the Sanitary Code, and the history of public health in New York State coupled with the fact that I wouldn’t bow to political pressure to take bribes or condone bribes taken, with respect to carriers who are or may be a danger to public health, PHL §2100 confers broad authority on local boards of health and health officers (commonly the local commissioner of health) to deal with outbreaks of infectious diseases, to wit:
1. Every local board of health and every health officer shall guard against the introduction of such communicable diseases as are designated in the sanitary code, by the exercise of proper and vigilant medical inspection and control of all persons and things infected with or exposed to such diseases.
2. Every local board of health and every health officer may:
(a) provide for care and isolation of cases of communicable disease in a hospital or elsewhere when necessary for protection of the public health and,
(b) subject to the provisions of the sanitary code, prohibit and prevent all intercourse and communication with or use of infected premises, places and things, and require, and if necessary, provide the means for the thorough purification and cleansing of the same before general intercourse with the same or use thereof shall be allowed.
end quotes
Search as I might in the “Cuomo Concentration Camp Bill,” I could find no justification from either yourself as Speaker of the Assembly, or Assemblymember Perry as to why this authority is being shifted to Andrew Cuomo, who is not a public health professional of any sort, by training or experience.
So I am asking you as the individual who has endorsed this legislation as to why you did so, given this following language in your endorsement of this legislation, to wit:
Subdivision 3 requires that any person or group removed or detained by order of the governor or his or her delegate shall be detained for as long as the department may direct.
end quotes
By what authority do you as a member of the New York Assembly who took an oath to support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of New York, grant Andrew Cuomo the right to order “groups” of people to be detained for as long as Howard Zucker may direct in a medical facility or other appropriate facility designated by the governor or his or her delegate?
What exactly is an “other appropriate facility” designated by the governor?
A work camp?
A re-education camp?
A Gulag?
An internment camp?
Or is it whatever the governor wishes it to be at the moment, based on a whim, or intestinal gas caused by a bad case of indigestion?
And whom exactly are these “groups” that you and Assemblymember Perry are intent on removing from society with this “Cuomo Concentration Camp Bill, where in section 2, Assemblymember Perry states that Governor Cuomo may order the removal and/or detention of such a group by issuing a single order, identifying such persons by a reasonably specific description of the group being detained?
What precisely is a “reasonably specific description of the group being detained” as you and Assemblymember Perry envision it?
Persons of Jewish extraction, perhaps?
Or homosexuals?
Or perhaps Caucasian males between the ages of 18 and 65?
As to the source of my concerns as a life-long New York State resident, grandfather and disabled combat veteran with this very un-American piece of legislation which bears your endorsement, I would refer you to a Gothamist article entitled “Albany’s Dead-Of-Night Coronavirus Vote Gives Cuomo Sweeping New Emergency Powers” by Ross Barkan on March 5, 2020, where we upstate resident learned, to wit:
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the state legislature approved $40 million in emergency funding to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak in New York.
Buried within the legislation is a provision that has alarmed progressive lawmakers and advocates: an extraordinary, broad, and little-understood expansion of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s emergency powers.
“I’m scared or concerned because I don’t know what the governor has in mind,” said Assembly member Richard Gottfried, the longtime chair of his chamber’s health committee.
With the support of both legislative leaders, the emergency funding bill overwhelmingly passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly and State Senate.
Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate Majority Leader, and Carl Heastie, the Speaker of the State Assembly, pushed for its passage, overriding the concerns of the health committee chairs in both chambers.
The whole process was rushed, in typical Albany fashion.
Word came Monday afternoon that legislation would be coming to the floor from the governor’s office, Gottfried said.
The state’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, had met with Assembly Democrats for a briefing, making no mention of the need of additional emergency powers.
The Assembly and Senate hardly debated the bill.
It passed both houses after midnight, with little time to read it or seek outside counsel.
end quotes
We call that the night our Constitution died, and for us older veterans who came into the world at the time of WWII or shortly after, what took place that night in Albany reminds us all too much of the Reichstag Fire Decree which is the common name of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State issued by German President Paul von Hindenburg on the advice of Chancellor Adolf Hitler on 28 February 1933, which decree nullified many of the key civil liberties of German citizens and was used as the legal basis for the imprisonment of anyone considered to be opponents of the Nazis, and to suppress publications not considered “friendly” to the Nazi cause.
That decree was considered by historians as one of the key steps in the establishment of a one-party Nazi state in Germany, and we are clearly concerned that you are trying to use this legislation you are pushing to make Andrew Cuomo a dictator in fact and to establish a one-party fascist state here in New York, which takes us back to that Gothamist article, as follows:
The definition of disasters is general enough that critics fear Cuomo, a governor who already enjoys aggressively wielding executive power, can abuse the new law in a wide array of circumstances to override existing law.
“It’s a reckless expansion of executive power,” said State Senator Julia Salazar, a Brooklyn Democrat who voted against the bill.
end quotes
And it most certainly is a very reckless expansion of executive power which demands an explanation from yourself as the champion of the “Cuomo Concentration Camp Bill” to the citizens of upstate New York as to what your motives are in giving Andrew Cuomo, who according to the Albany Times Union (see,”Churchill: This is Andrew Cuomo’s finest moment – New York’s governor has been the nation’s most authoritative voice during the pandemic” by Chris Churchill, March 22, 2020), governs by inspiring fear, not love, this dictatorial power to put “groups” of us in indefinite detention, as if this were Iraq under Saddam Hussein, as opposed to a free state with a Republican frame of government in the United States of America, which takes us back to the Gothamist, as follows:
Part of the challenge of understanding the expansion is the lack of specificity in the bill language.
Since the governor already has expansive emergency powers, adding more could theoretically justify all kinds of maneuvers, like the declaration of martial law, unilateral travel restrictions, and mass quarantines.
The limits are largely unknown.
Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, a Manhattan Democrat, said Cuomo’s expansion of emergency powers deeply concerned her as an Asian-American legislator.
“One of my mentors was born inside an internment camp,” Niou said in an emotional Instagram video, referring to the unlawful detention of Japanese-American citizens during World War II.
“I have an innate fear of what would happen if we allow our government to be able to weaponize fear and to be able to make a directive and have the power to order private citizens to do something without any checks and balances.”
end quotes
I too share her fears about your allowing Andrew Cuomo to weaponize fear and to be able to make a directive and have the power to order private citizens to do something without any checks and balances, as if he were a reincarnation of the tyrant George III of England, which is why I am requesting from yourself an explanation as to why you are trying to turn New York state into another Iraq under Saddam Hussein, or Uganda under Idi Amin.
Thanking you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter, I remain
Respectfully,
Paul Plante, PE
Paul Plante says
And WHOA!
HALT!
STOP THE PRESSES!
A NEW OFFICIALLY-SANCTIFIED NARRATIVE HAS BEEN DEVELOPED BY APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY AND WILL HENCEFORTH SUPERSEDE AND REPLACE AS THE OFFICIAL RECORD ALL PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF THE NARRATIVE WHICH EVEN HINT THAT ANDY CUOMO OF NEW YORK WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING OLD PEOPLE IN NURSING HOMES IN NEW YORK STATE!
NEW OFFICIAL NARRATIVE FOLLOWS (Please be sure to destroy all others!):
“New York DOH report says state blameless for nursing home deaths – Commissioner says data shows infections happened before controversial transfer policy”
Chris Bragg, Albany, New York Times Union
July 6, 2020 | Updated: July 6, 2020 6:25 p.m.
ALBANY — A report released Monday by the state Department of Health sought to absolve the agency of blame for more than 6,000 deaths in New York nursing homes from COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.
Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said at a press conference Monday morning that a controversial memo issued by the agency on March 25 that disallowed nursing homes from denying admission or readmission to residents based solely on a positive or suspected COVID-19 diagnosis was not to blame for what stands as the nation’s highest nursing home death toll.
end quotes
So, short, sweet and to the point – you can’t call Howie Zucker “Dr. Death,” anymore, because he is entirely blameless for any nursing home deaths in New York state, and we know that, because Howie’s health department did a huge investigation of any and all charges that “Dr. Death” Zucker was responsible, and they found them to be entirely groundless.
Nothing to see here, people, everybody back inside, clear the streets, there is no issue.
Getting back to the new narrative that has just replaced the old narrative, we have further, as follows:
The policy has been criticized by Cuomo critics, as well as in media reports, as the cause of the widespread infection rate among a highly vulnerable elderly population.
But the DOH report argues the deaths occurred because staff working at the homes had brought the infection into the facilities, at a time when the spread of coronavirus within the state was unknown.
end quotes
Now, that statement about “at a time when the spread of coronavirus within the state was unknown” is a lot of BULL**** spread thin on a piece of stale toast, because while warned of COVID in early January 2020, on March 2, Andy Cuomo and “Dr. Death” Zucker were saying that COVID in New York was nothing to worry about, when it clearly was, which was gross negligence on their part, although neither will ever be held to account now that “Dr. Death” has absolved himself and Andy Cuomo of any blame or responsibility, whatsoever, which takes us back to the new officially sanctioned version of history, as follows:
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, at a press conference that began soon after Zucker’s ended, blasted critics who attributed the deaths to his administration’s policy.
“That has no basis in fact,” Cuomo said.
“It was pure politics and it was ugly politics.”
“And now the report has the facts, and the facts tell the exact opposite story.”
end quotes
ATTENTION!
ATTENTION!
ATTENTION, EVERYONE!
ANDY CUOMO IS COMPLETELY INNOCENT AND FREE FROM ANY GUILT IN CONNECTI(ON WITH ANY NURSING HOME DEATHS IN NEW YORK STATE!
HOWIE ZUCKER SAYS SO, AND HOWIE ZUCKER KNOWS, BECAUSE HE IS A MEDICAL DOCTOR, AND WE ARE NOT!
Getting back to the new narrative, we have:
Asked on Monday if his administration could have done anything differently, Cuomo pinned the blame wholly on the federal government for not raising the alarm in December or January about the spread of COVID-19 to the U.S. from China and Europe.
By March 1, when New York had its first confirmed case, the disease had already spread widely here, Cuomo said.
“They should have said the virus was here when it was here,” Cuomo said.
“I don’t do global pandemics; I don’t have an international health department.”
end quotes
All of which is so much HORSE**** commingled and blended with BULL**** and leavened with HOG****, it isn’t funny, because on March 1, 2020, Andy Cuomo himself issued a Press Release entitled “Governor Cuomo Issues Statement Regarding Novel Coronavirus in New York,” wherein governor Andy stated as follows, to wit:
“This evening we learned of the first positive case of novel coronavirus — or COVID-19 — in New York State.”
“The patient, a woman in her late thirties, contracted the virus while traveling abroad in Iran, and is currently isolated in her home.”
“The patient has respiratory symptoms, but is not in serious condition and has been in a controlled situation since arriving to New York.”
“The positive test was confirmed by New York’s Wadsworth Lab in Albany, underscoring the importance of the ability for our state to ensure efficient and rapid turnaround, and is exactly why I advocated for the approval from Vice President Pence that New York was granted just yesterday.”
“There is no cause for surprise — this was expected.”
“As I said from the beginning, it was a matter of when, not if there would be a positive case of novel coronavirus in New York.”
“There is no reason for undue anxiety — the general risk remains low in New York.”
“We are diligently managing this situation and will continue to provide information as it becomes available.”
end quotes
Sounds to me like Andy is singing a vastly different song today than he was singing just four short months ago, but that is Andy, and Andy is a piece of work!
Getting back to the story once again, and the “ugly politics” as the easily-offended Andy calls it, we have:
Robert Ortt, who only recently took over leadership of the state Senate’s Republican minority, lambasted what he called Cuomo and Zucker’s “continual attempts to distort reality” as an “insult to every New Yorker” who lost a loved one to the virus in a nursing home, long-term care or assisted living facility.
“The Cuomo administration now blames family members and dedicated staff instead of their botched March 25 directive that sent COVID-19 positive patients walking into the door,” Ortt said in a statement.
“The Cuomo administration’s failure to accept responsibility for their disastrous response has been outrageous, but to blame family members who have suffered devastating losses — who were not even able to say goodbye at funerals — is the ultimate low.”
Ort repeated his call for an independent investigation into the nursing homes deaths instead of a report “issued by the Cuomo administration and their allies.”
end quotes
And indeed, there does need to be an independent investigation, but truth be told, this is corrupt New York state and that simply is not going to happen, as we see going back to the story, as follows:
State Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who won election in 2018 with Cuomo’s backing, is investigating the conduct of nursing homes; while that probe is being conducted in conjunction with DOH, it will not look into the agency’s actions.
end quotes
Yes, people, it is all the fault of the nursing homes, period, end of sentence, and Tish is going to prove that for all to see, even if it really isn’t so!
And back to the story we go for one more time, to wit:
Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, the Democratic chairman of the body’s health committee, has called for an investigation by an independent counsel appointed by James that would probe both nursing homes and the state government’s actions.
end quotes
And that is simply more Democrat BULL**** intended to whitewash the role the health department, “Dr. Death” Zucker and Andy Cuomo played in those nursing home deaths, calling for Tish to appoint an independent counsel to investigate Andy Cuomo and “Dr. Death” Zucker, because the Attorney general is not neutral, or unbiased, precisely because the Attorney general is the attorney for the state of New York, and the state of New York is her client, and she is not going to allow her client to be held to account in a court of law.
End of story.
Or is it?
Stay tuned.