(Sunday, September 27, 2020) – On Saturday, September 26, 2020, Assemblyman Kevin Byrne joined the advocacy group, Voices for Seniors, at a rally to call attention to the plight of nursing home residents in New York. Assemblyman Byrne was accompanied by NY Times best-selling author andFox News meteorologist Janice Dean, former Westchester County Executive and current state Senate candidate Rob Astorino, co-founders of Voices for Seniors Vivian Zayas and Alexa Rivera, Jo-Ann Rodriguez, and numerous other local advocates who spoke about the terror nursing home residents and their families faced during the height of the pandemic.
In his remarks, Assemblyman Byrne reiterated the Assembly GOP’s concern that, despite many COVID-19-related deaths being traced back to nursing homes, these deaths were not accounted for adequately in state reports because many individuals ultimately died outside of their respective elder care facilities. Assemblyman Byrne added, “To date, Governor Cuomo’s Administration and the New York State Department of Health have refused to release the complete data with all information regarding COVID-19 related deaths from nursing homes prior to mid-May.” Byrne continued, “The federal government has an obligation to help us get to the truth, and the CDC can help make that happen.”
A link to the Assemblyman’s remarks can be viewed here.
Details of the Assembly GOP’s letter to the CDC here.
The rally came on the heels of Assemblyman Byrne and his colleagues in the Assembly GOP formally calling on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to update guidance on COVID-related nursing home reporting. On Thursday, September 24th, the Assembly Minority Conference sent a letter to the CDC urging them to issue updated guidelines to provide New Yorkers with much-needed critical information on COVID-related deaths in nursing homes and elder care facilities.
