GOVERNOR’S BRIEFING/Sunday, May 10

COVID-Related

Syndrome Strikes

85 NYS Children

NEW YORK CITY –  In his daily briefing this morning, Governor Cuomo announced the state is investigating 85 reported cases in New York State where children – predominantly school-aged – are experiencing symptoms similar to an atypical Kawasaki disease or a toxic shock-like syndrome possibly due to COVID-19.

The illness has taken the lives of three young New Yorkers and an additional two deaths are currently under investigation.

New York State is notifying 49 other states across the country of emerging cases of COVID-related illness in children, he said.

The governor also:

• proposed the “Americans First Law” which states that a corporation cannot be eligible to receive government funding if it does not rehire the same number of employees that the corporation had before the COVID-19 pandemic.

•  announced he will issue an Executive Order mandating that all nursing homes and adult care facilities test all personnel for COVID-19 two times per week and report any positive test results to the State Department of Health by the next day. The Executive Order also mandates that hospitals cannot discharge a patient to a nursing home unless that patient tests negative for COVID-19.

All nursing home and adult care facility administrators will be required to submit a plan on how they will accomplish this testing by Friday, May 15. Any nursing home or adult care facility found to be in violation of the Executive Order may have its operating certificate suspended or revoked or may be subject to a penalty for non-compliance of $2,000 per violation per day.

Additionally, any personnel who refuse to be tested for COVID-19 will be considered to have outdated or incomplete health assessments and therefore will be prohibited from working in the nursing home or adult care facility until testing is performed.

• announced that the Department of Health and Human Services is distributing a promising treatment called Remdesivir that has been shown to help patients infected with COVID-19 recover more quickly. The Department of Health and Human Services has sent New York enough antiviral to treat 2,900 people at 15 hospitals and will send more doses in the coming weeks to treat 500 more patients, including children, at additional New York Hospitals.