How to Kill Old People, by Andrew Corleone

 

Paul Mirengoff is no Trump fan, but he often provides excellent analysis and links, like the rest of the Power Line team and he has a damning piece on Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus incompetence. This is a time of winnowing for leaders. Just as Arizona Governor Doug Ducey is no Noem, so Cuomo is no Insley. That is not praise for the Washington state governor, but a recognition that Washington authorities did something right at the outset, setting the Pacific Northwest on a different trajectory than the New York City area. A New York order could fairly be titled “How to Kill Old People, by Andrew Cuomo.”

The most outrageous evidence was not directly linked by Mirengoff, but his references made it easy to find. I have captured the New York State Health Department coronavirus order dated March 25, 2020. There is no need to highlight the most relevant portion, because the bureaucrats did it for everyone. Bear in mind that nursing homes were already known to be especially vulnerable and likely hot spots in any state not imposing the most draconian quarantine on those facilities, with the most stringent controls on everyone entering a nursing home, a long term care facility. Don’t take my word for it, “this is CNN,” on March 3, 2020:

A nursing home in the Seattle area is at the center of the US coronavirus outbreak

Kirkland, Washington (CNN)A nursing care and rehabilitation facility in the Seattle suburbs is now the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the United States, with four deaths tied to the site and relatives and friends of its 108 patients barred from visiting.

It’s still not clear how the virus spread to the Life Care Center in Kirkland, where more than 50 residents and staff have been experiencing symptoms and will be tested for coronavirus, King County health officer Jeffrey Duchin said. Some 180 people work there.

Read the official New York State Health Department order, captured just in case someone makes a “mistake” and accidentally wipes the server hard drive disk, you know, like with a chlorine wipe to kill the coronavirus. The key text, rendered as in the original is:

During this global health emergency, all NHs must comply with the expedited receipt of residents returning from hospitals to NHs. Residents are deemed appropriate for return to a NH upon a determination by the hospital physician or designee that the resident is medically stable for return.

Hospital discharge planners must confirm to the NH, by telephone, that the resident is medically stable for discharge. Comprehensive discharge instructions must be provided by the hospital prior to the transport of a resident to the NH.

No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.

So, the health authorities took Fauci’s flawed formula literally and were so determined to empty hospital beds for a supposed tidal wave of COVID-19 cases that they ordered nursing homes to take in infected patients as soon as they were stabilized by a hospital. If this is insane to you, that is what panic combined with a will to power does in a crisis. If only we had elected more men, more women, as our representatives and leaders. “If—”

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

Rudyard Kipling, “If—”

It is all in front of us now, for those who have eyes to see. We can all see the difference between the Fox News virtual town hall and each of Biden’s recent performances on friendly media platforms. We have the government for which we, in our several states, voted. We get another crack at choosing this year.

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There are 16 comments.

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  1. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    The political ads write themselves if Cuomo is part of a Democrat coup to replace Joe Biden.

    • #1
  2. Tex929rr Coolidge
    Tex929rr
    @Tex929rr

    I always read Powerline first thing in the morning.  That story was horrifying.

    • #2
  3. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Good post, Clifford.

    What should they have done instead?  I don’t like what they did, but they were in a quandary.  The hospitals were filling up, and they were understandably worried that it would only get worse.  They probably didn’t have adequate testing set up, either.  What a mess.

    This isn’t to excuse Cuomo, especially in light of his March 2 statement quoted in the Powerline article: “This isn’t our first rodeo. We are fully coordinated, and we are fully mobilized, and we are fully prepared to deal with the situation as it develops.”

    The older folks released from the hospital probably should have been sent to that Navy ship, or the Javits center, or something like that.

    • #3
  4. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Two likes. No, three likes. Great post.

    • #4
  5. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    Do not take it for granted that WA state did anything right. That our population was less effected may well be a product of population density and healthy lifestyles. The virus just as likely did it’s thing in spite of us, and our nursing homes still suffered.

    Inslee is no model to look up to.

    • #5
  6. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Good post, Clifford.

    What should they have done instead? I don’t like what they did, but they were in a quandary. The hospitals were filling up, and they were understandably worried that it would only get worse. They probably didn’t have adequate testing set up, either. What a mess.

    This isn’t to excuse Cuomo, especially in light of his March 2 statement quoted in the Powerline article: “This isn’t our first rodeo. We are fully coordinated, and we are fully mobilized, and we are fully prepared to deal with the situation as it develops.”

    The older folks released from the hospital probably should have been sent to that Navy ship, or the Javits center, or something like that.

    How about this?  https://nypost.com/2020/05/02/nyc-hotels-meant-for-recovering-coronavirus-patients-nearly-empty/

    • #6
  7. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Hammer, The (View Comment):

    Do not take it for granted that WA state did anything right. That our population was less effected may well be a product of population density and healthy lifestyles. The virus just as likely did it’s thing in spite of us, and our nursing homes still suffered.

    Inslee is no model to look up to.

    My point as well.  

    Clifford’s point is, I think, that rather than sending hospital patients back to their nursing homes, they should have kept them in the hospital.  And had they done so, fewer patients in the nursing homes would have died?  

    • #7
  8. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Good post, Clifford.

    What should they have done instead? I don’t like what they did, but they were in a quandary. The hospitals were filling up, and they were understandably worried that it would only get worse. They probably didn’t have adequate testing set up, either. What a mess.

    This isn’t to excuse Cuomo, especially in light of his March 2 statement quoted in the Powerline article: “This isn’t our first rodeo. We are fully coordinated, and we are fully mobilized, and we are fully prepared to deal with the situation as it develops.”

    The older folks released from the hospital probably should have been sent to that Navy ship, or the Javits center, or something like that.

    I suppose they could have also worked to use spare bed capacity outside of the NYC area within New York State, by finding hospitals upstate to handle the patients who were too risky to discharge to nursing homes. There still would have been a higher risk factor for those hospitals, but they would still have more protective options for staff and other patients than just dropping high-risk people back into nursing homes did.

    • #8
  9. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Cuomo is lucky that the media is naturally disposed to swoon over Democrat politicians, and the fact that he was being graded on a curve here, since the politician he was being compared with by the NYC-based media was Bill de Blasio. Virtually anyone is going to look like Winston Churchill in terms of leadership by comparison to the narcissistic socialist in City Hall (and if you want to go by John Podhoretz’ rant a couple of weeks ago, “narcissistic socialist pothead” is an even more accurate label).

    The sheen is starting to come off, though, as the number of new cases and deaths go down, people even in the New York area are starting to talk about Cuomo’s orders on things like the nursing homes and the failure until last week to order subway cars disinfected daily instead of every three days. It’s why the “Swap Cuomo for Biden” fantasies have died down in the past couple of weeks, and those still seeking a Joe replacement who’s not Bernie are now fantasizing elsewhere, on someone like Michelle Obama with no CVOID edict foul-ups on their record.

    • #9
  10. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Good post, Clifford.

    What should they have done instead? I don’t like what they did, but they were in a quandary. The hospitals were filling up, and they were understandably worried that it would only get worse. They probably didn’t have adequate testing set up, either. What a mess.

    This isn’t to excuse Cuomo, especially in light of his March 2 statement quoted in the Powerline article: “This isn’t our first rodeo. We are fully coordinated, and we are fully mobilized, and we are fully prepared to deal with the situation as it develops.”

    The older folks released from the hospital probably should have been sent to that Navy ship, or the Javits center, or something like that.

    The USNS Comfort did not arrive until March 30. But it seems there were plenty of beds available in hospitals upstate. By sending those Covid 19 elderlies into the nursing home environments, the N.Y. authorities, Cuomo at the top, ended up killing a bunch of people.

    • #10
  11. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Good post, Clifford.

    What should they have done instead? I don’t like what they did, but they were in a quandary. The hospitals were filling up, and they were understandably worried that it would only get worse. They probably didn’t have adequate testing set up, either. What a mess.

    This isn’t to excuse Cuomo, especially in light of his March 2 statement quoted in the Powerline article: “This isn’t our first rodeo. We are fully coordinated, and we are fully mobilized, and we are fully prepared to deal with the situation as it develops.”

    The older folks released from the hospital probably should have been sent to that Navy ship, or the Javits center, or something like that.

    How about this? https://nypost.com/2020/05/02/nyc-hotels-meant-for-recovering-coronavirus-patients-nearly-empty/

    So that’s even better than upstate hospitals as long as the patients didn’t need hospitalization. Cuomo has a big mouth and a glib tongue. He will never take responsibility for this deadly mistake. If ever asked by the media, and that’s a big if, Cuomo will, no doubt, find a way to blame Trump.

    • #11
  12. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    The problem with Inslee, Cuomo, and a host of other governors is that they are urban-centric. To them, a city park is a wilderness. Why else would national parks and other undeveloped areas be closed to usage. I know at least a dozen trails within a short drive of my home that I could walk all day and not see another person. These people are essentially political hacks with little or no real world experience. So long as their duties are limited to simple, ordinary political issues they can demonstrate a variable rate of competence depending on your political view. When, however, they are faced with something completely beyond the ken they become overwhelmed and make decisions like a green vice principal, authoritarian and emotional and self defensive.

    Living in Pierce County, south of Seattle/King County, I have looked at the comparative statistics between the two counties. Our largest number of cases, unsurprisingly, are in Tacoma. There the number is somewhere in the high 200s. Seattle on the other hand has 6600 cases with almost as many deaths as the total number of cases in Tacoma. Applying the same strictures on Pierce county as are needed in a much more populous King County is absurd, but the governor is punishing the rest of the state for the sins of King County, or so it would seem. Through the entire county we see a growth of between 20 and 30 new cases diagnosed a day. That is in a population of nearly 900K. Currently the total number of people who have been confirmed to be infected in the county is about 1500. The numbers do not justify the absurd restrictions on personal freedom, particularly when people are fully capable of protecting themselves and are, obviously, doing just that. Restrictions and quarantines should be applied in a localized manner where they are necessary, not in a blanket grab for power. I do hope that these days are well remembered the next time these demogogues come up for reelection.

    • #12
  13. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    cdor (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Good post, Clifford.

    What should they have done instead? I don’t like what they did, but they were in a quandary. The hospitals were filling up, and they were understandably worried that it would only get worse. They probably didn’t have adequate testing set up, either. What a mess.

    This isn’t to excuse Cuomo, especially in light of his March 2 statement quoted in the Powerline article: “This isn’t our first rodeo. We are fully coordinated, and we are fully mobilized, and we are fully prepared to deal with the situation as it develops.”

    The older folks released from the hospital probably should have been sent to that Navy ship, or the Javits center, or something like that.

    The USNS Comfort did not arrive until March 30. But it seems there were plenty of beds available in hospitals upstate. By sending those Covid 19 elderlies into the nursing home environments, the N.Y. authorities, Cuomo at the top, ended up killing a bunch of people.

    I don’t like to monday-morning-quarterback and blame deaths in anyone. Because, after all, liberals will be doing that, too. That said, it is a good reminder that government doesn’t access to better information or experts, and that top-down planning does not mean the right thing will happen.

    • #13
  14. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    Eugene Kriegsmann (View Comment):

    The problem with Inslee, Cuomo, and a host of other governors is that they are urban-centric. To them, a city park is a wilderness. Why else would national parks and other undeveloped areas be closed to usage. I know at least a dozen trails within a short drive of my home that I could walk all day and not see another person. These people are essentially political hacks with little or no real world experience. So long as their duties are limited to simple, ordinary political issues they can demonstrate a variable rate of competence depending on your political view. When, however, they are faced with something completely beyond the ken they become overwhelmed and make decisions like a green vice principal, authoritarian and emotional and self defensive.

    Living in Pierce County, south of Seattle/King County, I have looked at the comparative statistics between the two counties. Our largest number of cases, unsurprisingly, are in Tacoma. There the number is somewhere in the high 200s. Seattle on the other hand has 6600 cases with almost as many deaths as the total number of cases in Tacoma. Applying the same strictures on Pierce county as are needed in a much more populous King County is absurd, but the governor is punishing the rest of the state for the sins of King County, or so it would seem. Through the entire county we see a growth of between 20 and 30 new cases diagnosed a day. That is in a population of nearly 900K. Currently the total number of people who have been confirmed to be infected in the county is about 1500. The numbers do not justify the absurd restrictions on personal freedom, particularly when people are fully capable of protecting themselves and are, obviously, doing just that. Restrictions and quarantines should be applied in a localized manner where they are necessary, not in a blanket grab for power. I do hope that these days are well remembered the next time these demogogues come up for reelection.

    Inslee was a lawyer in Selah. Selah is a very small community just north of Yakima. I agree that he is a political hack, but he has no excuse. He knows damned well that there is a whole lot of Washington that isn’t Seattle. He just doesn’t care.

    • #14
  15. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Hammer, The (View Comment):

    Eugene Kriegsmann (View Comment):

    The problem with Inslee, Cuomo, and a host of other governors is that they are urban-centric. To them, a city park is a wilderness. Why else would national parks and other undeveloped areas be closed to usage. I know at least a dozen trails within a short drive of my home that I could walk all day and not see another person. These people are essentially political hacks with little or no real world experience. So long as their duties are limited to simple, ordinary political issues they can demonstrate a variable rate of competence depending on your political view. When, however, they are faced with something completely beyond the ken they become overwhelmed and make decisions like a green vice principal, authoritarian and emotional and self defensive.

    Living in Pierce County, south of Seattle/King County, I have looked at the comparative statistics between the two counties. Our largest number of cases, unsurprisingly, are in Tacoma. There the number is somewhere in the high 200s. Seattle on the other hand has 6600 cases with almost as many deaths as the total number of cases in Tacoma. Applying the same strictures on Pierce county as are needed in a much more populous King County is absurd, but the governor is punishing the rest of the state for the sins of King County, or so it would seem. Through the entire county we see a growth of between 20 and 30 new cases diagnosed a day. That is in a population of nearly 900K. Currently the total number of people who have been confirmed to be infected in the county is about 1500. The numbers do not justify the absurd restrictions on personal freedom, particularly when people are fully capable of protecting themselves and are, obviously, doing just that. Restrictions and quarantines should be applied in a localized manner where they are necessary, not in a blanket grab for power. I do hope that these days are well remembered the next time these demogogues come up for reelection.

    Inslee was a lawyer in Selah. Selah is a very small community just north of Yakima. I agree that he is a political hack, but he has no excuse. He knows damned well that there is a whole lot of Washington that isn’t Seattle. He just doesn’t care.

    Results matter. Cuomo has been especially dreadful, and the published evidence is stunning. Focus.

    I graduated high school in Pierce County (Army brat Ft. Lewis) and undergraduate in King County (UW).  I served at Ft Lewis early 1990s. Family in both counties. I get WA pretty well, hence my disclaimer.

    AND. Cuomo should be compared to Insley as Ducey should be compared to Noem. Both stink in comparison.

    • #15
  16. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    One more thought: where were Doctors Fauci and Birx in all this? Quick to scold beach goers, talked about protecting nursing homes, yet not a peep here?

    • #16
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