FILE PHOTO – A man looks outside of a window at a nursing home as family member wait to speak to a patient of the home during an ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., April 16, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
(Reuters) – All nursing homes in New York state will be required to test staff twice a week for the novel coronavirus, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday, in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus in its most fertile breeding ground.
At his daily briefing, Cuomo announced new rules to protect nursing home patients, including mandating that hospitals cannot discharge a COVID-19 patient to a nursing home until the person has tested negative for the disease.
“That is a rule, not an ‘I appreciate it if you did’,” Cuomo said, adding that facilities would lose their license if they do not adhere to the rules.
Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis
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