#Health Department walks back nursing home test order following Post report

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s embattled state Health Department plans to partially reverse a controversial mandate ordering nursing home staff to be tested twice a week for the coronavirus, The Post has learned.

The new rule will instead require nursing home and adult care staff to undergo COVID-19 checks just once a week in all regions that have hit Phase Two of New York’s reopening plan — Upstate, the Hudson Valley and Long Island — leaving just New York City facilities still subject to the twice-a-week test rule.

The order will last for the next 30 days, subject to extension or modification.

The move follows a Post report Monday exposing significant delays in test results to facilities, and one location reported hundreds of tests results hadn’t been received for nearly three weeks.

Neil Heyman, president of the New York Southern Association that represents these healthcare facilities, applauded the relief.

“It’s going in the right direction. It’s fair. It’s logical,” he said.

Heyman, along with two other top nursing home association heads, wrote a letter to Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, begging to scrap or modify the order because it placed an undue burden on staff during a time when they’ve gotten COVID-19 cases under control.

Industry sources told The Post that Cuomo’s staff and DOH held a conference call with nursing home industry officials late Tuesday evening notifying them of the changes.

DOH said since the order was signed on May 10th, over 425,000 nursing home staff tests were processed and received by the agency.

6,500 of that total were coronavirus positive, with half of the positive results coming from New York City locations, as of Wednesday, June 10.

“Over the last three weeks, the weekly positive testing rate has declined from 3%, to less than 1 percent for the most recent week for which we have test results. For facilities in regions that have entered Phase Two, just 0.76 percent of test results this past week have come back positive, mirroring the tremendous progress New Yorkers have made to control COVID-19 spread,” Zucker said in a statement Wednesday, arguing he’s opting to “follow CDC guidelines” by moving to twice a week testing.

“As a result of these ambitious testing operations, I believe we have successfully tracked and reduced the spread of the virus in long term care facilities. The results of these tests has allowed facilities to take steps to ensure those residents and staff who test positive do not spread the infection,” he added.

Some 6,120 residents in nursing homes have died of confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases throughout the Empire State, according to DOH’s most recent data through June 8.

“While it’s disappointing it took many weeks, numerous emails, and multiple public outcries to convince Governor Cuomo he had no option but to reverse course, we’re glad to see this step in the right direction on this issue,” Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) told The Post.

His office has been holding conference calls with nursing home and healthcare operators in his district over the past several weeks.

“We’ll continue to collaborate with hospital networks, nursing home administrators, and other members of the medical community because we care about solving issues for our grandparents, such as visitation and delays in hospital’s surgical services, which have yet to be addressed by the state.”

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi took aim at Reed, who he called an industry “hatchetman.”

“Reed used to make a living being the industry’s debt collector, it’s not surprising he’s still their hatchetman,” Azzopardi said. “All decisions are based on facts and science from the experts not lobbying.”