Albany beat: NJ’s COVID Lessons for NY

“A recently published independent review of New Jersey’s pandemic response holds lessons for New York,” reports the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond. It “indirectly shed light” on New York’s “‘must admit’ order compelling nursing homes to accept Covid-infected patients being discharged from hospitals.” Statistical analysis shows a “significant correlation between the number of patient transfers under the policy and higher death rates in the homes that accepted them” in New York. Despite health officials in both states issuing nearly identical policies, “New Jersey officials minimized the damage by communicating the policy more directly,” “allowing facilities to opt out” and, most important, “reversing course when they recognized their mistake” in just two weeks. New York state “has not yet produced a reliable account” of its decision-making.