Enhanced Coronavirus Testing Rules Issued After NYC's Nursing Home Blunder

According to reporting by the NYPost on August 24, 2020, the US government is issuing expanded coronavirus testing rules for nursing homes in the USA, including the state of New York. An AP analysis on August 11, 2020, found that as many as 11,000 New York nursing home residents may have died during the coronavirus pandemic.

The new rules require that nursing homes offer tests to patients if anyone in the facility contracts COVID-19 or exhibits symptoms. And in most cases, the nursing homes will be required to publicly report test results. “These new rules represent a dramatic ramp-up in our efforts to track and control the spread of COVID-19, especially in nursing homes,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement.