Guest Column: Leslie Danks Burke

“Seeking an honest assessment”

WATKINS GLEN, Aug. 5, 2020 -- Every day, when I put on my mask, I think of the thousands of health care workers who lost their lives fighting the coronavirus.

I also think about my 74-year-old parents and of my older friends and neighbors, because this virus is not an equal opportunity killer. As we age, our immune system weakens and we develop more pre-existing conditions, which put elderly people at great risk. COVID-19 has killed more than 6,300 New Yorkers who lived in senior care facilities -- more than the entire population of Penn Yan, lost forever to this horrible disease.

The nursing home outbreak is easing, with more employee testing and infection control, isolation of residents, and sufficient PPEs. Still, our loved ones deserve an explanation of why so many died. And on a practical level, we must study the mistakes made in the early months of the outbreak to prevent a similar death toll if a second wave washes through our state.

But to do this, we need to break free of the corrupting politics as usual and do an honest assessment to find real answers.

Sadly, every single politician who represents us in this region, from Assemblyperson to Senator to Governor to President -- no matter what political party they belong to -- has taken large campaign donations from Healthcare PACS.

On the federal level, President Trump caved to intense lobbying by nursing home managers and corporate owners to roll back established rules and regulations on infection control in senior care facilities, like requiring every nursing home to have an infectious disease specialist or penalizing nursing homes that failed to comply with beefed up infection protocols.

In return, a group of nursing operators honored the President at a gala in Manhattan that raised $3 million for Trump’s 2020 election campaign.

Here in New York, we didn’t do much better. Our first death from COVID-19 was confirmed on March 14, and on Sunday, March 22, New York’s stay-in-place order went into effect. On March 25, Governor Cuomo ordered that nursing homes accept stable COVID patients discharged from the hospital without requiring a negative test for the virus -- a policy he rescinded five weeks later.

During those weeks, behind closed doors and outside public scrutiny, COVID-19 spread like wildfire through nursing homes. And while thousands of vulnerable seniors were getting sick and dying, a provision was quietly inserted into the New York state budget in April to shield nursing homes from lawsuits over COVID related negligence.

Public health experts knew years ago that longstanding and widespread problems were likely to lead to rampant deaths in nursing homes. But the corrupt nexus of money and politics influences whether politicians choose to act. Our state and federal leaders, and the regulators they appoint, ignored violations and warning signs staring us in the face. Nursing home owners cashed in on their political contributions, and vulnerable seniors died.

The fact is, we need legislators who can lead investigations like this without having the process or the outcome corrupted by the fact that they’ve taken thousands of dollars from the very people they are supposed to be investigating. Let’s elect people who will listen to clear-eyed medical and public health experts and scientists, with a commitment to the truth rather than to winning elections.

Photo: Leslie Danks Burke

Top row (from left): Carl Blowers, Jim Howell, Michael Lausell, Van Harp

Bottom row: Gary Gray, David Reed, Phil Barnes, Mark Rondinaro

Legislature Chairman

Carl Blowers, 535-6174 or 237-5469

Legislature Members:

Gary Gray, 292-9922

Van Harp, 329-2160

Jim Howell, 535-7266 or 227-1141

David M. Reed, 796-9558

Michael Lausell, 227- 9226

Phil Barnes, Watkins Glen, 481-0482

Mark Rondinaro, 398-0648

County Clerk: Theresa Philbin, 535-8133

Sheriff: William Yessman, 535-8222

Undersheriff: Breck Spaulding, 535-8222

County Treasurer: Holley Sokolowski, 535-8181

District Attorney: Joseph Fazzary, 535-8383

State, Federal Officials for Schuyler County

Sen. Charles E. Schumer

United States Senate
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3201
DC Phone: 202-224-6542
DC Fax: 202-228-3027
Email Address: http://schumer.senate.gov/webform.html

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand

United States Senate
478 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
DC Phone: 202-224-4451
Website: http://gillibrand.senate.gov/

State Senator Tom O'Mara -- Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Yates, western Tompkins, Enfield, Ithaca (Town and City), Newfield, Ulysses(Trumansburg)

Room 812, Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
Phone: (518) 455-2091
Fax: (518) 426-6976
www.omara.nysenate.gov

Assemblyman Phil Palmesano-- Steuben, Schuyler, Yates
Room 723, Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: (518) 455-5791
Website: http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Phillip-A-Palmesano