AMERICANS DIE THAN ANY OTHER
PLACE FROM THIS VIRUS THAT’S NOW
KILLED MORE THAN 113,000 OF US.
IT WASN’T UNTIL MID-APRIL THE
FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR
OVERSEEING NURSING HOMES
ANNOUNCED THAT FACILITIES LIKE
THIS WOULD BE REQUIRED TO REPORT
ALL OF THEIR CASES.
AND THE GOVERNMENT WOULD PUBLISH
THAT DATA.
SEEMED LIKE GOOD NEWS THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS FINALLY
AT LEAST GOING TO COLLECT THAT
INFORMATION AND PUBLISH IT.
THAT DATA, SUCH AS IT IS,
FINALLY ARRIVED LAST WEEK.
DOES THAT DATA FINALLY HELP US
GET OUR HEADS AROUND HOW BIG THE
PROBLEM IS AND HOW BAD THE
PROBLEM HAS BEEN IN NURSING
HOMES IN THESE PLACES WHERE THE
MOST AMERICANS HAVE DIED FROM
THIS THING?
WELL, HOW GOOD IS THE DATA THEY
JUST RELEASED?
FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU LOOK UP IN
THESE NEW FEDERAL STATISTICS THE
LIFE CARE CENTER OF KIRKLAND,
WASHINGTON, THE PLACE WHERE WE
KNOW THERE WAS THAT FIRST
TERRIBLE FATAL OUTBREAK THE
FEDERAL DATA SHOWS ZERO DEATHS
AT THAT FACILITY, EVEN THOUGH WE
KNOW DOZENS OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED
THERE DIED FROM THIS VIRUS.
"THE NEW YORK TIMES," THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT UNDERCOUNTED
THE NUMBER OF DEATHS IN URZ
NURSING HOMES.
LOCAL COVERAGE IN INDIANAPOLIS,
INDIANA, GOVERNMENT DATA ABOUT
COVID-19 IN NURSING HOMES IS
DEEPLY FLAWED.
LOCAL PAPER IN TEXAS, FED
NATIONWIDE NURSING HOME DATA
EXPANSIVE BUT INCOMPLETE.
THE CONNECTICUT POST COMPARED
THE FEDERAL DATA RELEASED BY THE
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WITH WHAT
THE STATE OFFERED AND FOUND,
QUOTE, THE NUMBERS FROM THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AT BEST PAINT
HALF THE PICTURE AND ARE FAR
LESS ACCURATE THAN AVAILABLE
STATE FIGURES.
THE DISCREPANCIES WERE VEXING
ENOUGH THAT THE "DETROIT FREE
PRESS" JUST SAID THEY WOULD FLAT
OUT NOT BE LISTING DETAILED
INFORMATION ON INDIVIDUAL
FACILITIES WITHOUT MORE VETTING.
MEANING, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
PUBLISHED DATA THAT HE SAID WAS
REPRESENTATIVE OF WHAT WAS GOING
ON IN INDIVIDUAL NURSING HOMES,
INCLUDING THOSE IN AND AROUND
DETROIT AND IN MICHIGAN THE
"DETROIT FREE PRESS" LOOKED AT
THOSE NUMBERS AND THOUGHT THEY
WERE SO BAD AND SO WRONG, THEY
WOULD NOT PUBLISH THEM OR REPEAT
THEM.
THAT’S WHAT THE TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION HAS DONE IN TERMS
OF NURSING HOMES AND DATA.
THE FAILURE IS PEOPLE WHO LIVED
IN NURSING HOMES ASKED FOR DATA.
WHAT THEY GOT WAS AN ABSOLUTE
MESS.
KIND OF LIKE WHAT WE LEARN AS
NURSING HOMES BIG FOREEQUIPMENT
FOR THEIR STAFF.
YOU MIGHT REMEMBER VICE
PRESIDENT PENCE MAKING A BIG
PHOTO-OP DELIVERING BOXES TO A
NURSING HOME WHILE NOT WEARING A
MASK ALONGSIDE HIS PRESS
SECRETARY, WHO LATER TESTED
POSITIVE.
THAT’S POLITICS, RIGHT, THE BIG
PHOTO-OP.
HERE’S THE ON-THE-GROUND
REALITY, "THE WALL STREET
JOURNAL" REPORTING, NURSING
HOMES SAY SOME PROTECTIVE GEAR
SENT BY TIMEA IS UNUSABLE.
THE BLUE GOWNS WERE LARGE AND
NOT FITTED RETIRING TAPE TO
SECURE THEM, NURSING HOME
EXECUTIVE SAID.
TO REMOVE THEM WOULD REQUIRE
RIPPING THEM, LIKELY EXPOSING
THE THE WEARER TO THE VIRUS IF
THE GOWN HAD BEEN CONTAMINATED.
ONE NURSING HOME HE
ADMINISTRATOR DESCRIBING THE
GOWNS AS, QUOTE, GLORIFIED GASH
BADGE BAGS.
HERE WE ARE.
THE FIGURE SENDING GOWNS THAT
ARE GARBAGE BAGS THAT LOOK LIKE
GOWN TARPS, BAGS IN SOME CASES
WUT ARMS IN THEM, SENDING THEM
TO HEALTH CARE WORKERS AT
NURSING HOMES, WHERE WE STILL
DON’T HAVE A CLEAR SENSE HOW
MANY PEOPLE ARE GETTING SICK,
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DYEING OR
HAVE DIED.
WE’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT NURSING
HOMES AS BEING THE MOST
DANGEROUS PLACE FOR AMERICANS IN
TERMS OF THIS PANDEMIC FOR
MONTHS NOW.
YOU WOULD THINK THAT HAVING
MONTHS TO WORK ON IT WHILE TENS
OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS DIE IN
THESE FACILITIES WOULD AT LEAST
GIVE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT A
LITTLE BIT OF A CHANCE TO GET
ITS ACT TOGETHER WHEN IT COMES
TO THESE FACILITIES, RIGHT?
WHEN IT COMES TO THE RISKIEST
PLACE ON EARTH IN TERMS OF
CORONAVIRUSES.
WE’VE GOT THE WORST PANDEMIC IN
THE COUNTRY -- SORRY, IN THE
WORLD, AND THE PLACE WHERE MORE
AMERICANS ARE DYEING FROM THIS
VIRUS IS IN NURSING HOMES.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REGULATES
THEM.
WHAT IS IT DOING?
NOT COUNTING WHAT’S GOING ON
THERE AND SENDING THEM JUNK AND
TELLING THEM GOOD LUCK, POSE FOR
THE PHOTO-OP.
THIS IS NOT GETTING ANY BETTER.
THE FACT THAT THE NURSING HOME
PROBLEM IS OLD NOW DOESN’T MEAN