https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/trump-rapid-coronavirus-tests-403602https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-requesting-data-governors-states-issued-covid-19-orders-may-have-resultedtwo additional updates:
Trump administration has purchased a contract of 150,000,000 rapid coronavirus tests from Abbott Laboratories for $5 each, with 15 minute testing time, set to be distributed to schools, nursing homes and other prioritized environments.
The Department of Justice is initiating the preliminary steps of an investigation into whether the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan violated the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act by requiring covid-19 positive patients to be sent to nursing homes, which resulted in many deaths.
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Data will help inform whether the Department of Justice will initiate investigations under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) regarding New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan’s response to COVID-19 in public nursing homes
Today the Justice Department requested COVID-19 data from the governors of states that issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan required nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients to their vulnerable populations, often without adequate testing.
For example, on March 25, 2020, New York ordered: “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to [a nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. [Nursing homes] are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”