My brother Johnny had emergency surgery in early March 2020. He was released to a NY nursing home for short term rehabilitation with the expectation of recovering and going home in a month. He arrived in the nursing home and the next day it was closed to visitors because of the Covid Pandemic. No one warned me and if I knew this I would have taken him home. When I asked a higher level medical professional if the facility knew there was Covid present, her response to me was that they cannot divulge this information. To me that said we were not warned.

Then I discovered immunity was given to all facilities by Governor Cuomo which as a health professional myself I can understand. However I should have been forewarned when my brother was placed into the Lion’s Den of Covid. There should not be facility immunity for this.

Cuomo then added another directive for overcrowded hospitals: Nursing homes can accept Covid positive patients if they can manage them. I have worked in nursing homes and know infection control can be challenging during normal times. This was extremely poor judgement and involuntary homicide in my opinion. My brother caught Covid after this directive.

Where is the justice? Where is the accountability? It was awful that I could not get into my brother’s facility and barely got any communication during that time. I still can’t believe this nightmare was real. I am sorry Johnny, as I tried my best but I could not protect you and neither did anyone else.