Troll Bait – Covid 01

Thanks for sharing that image — I’ll unpack it carefully, because it mixes a kernel of truth with a lot of distortion.

What’s true

• In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic (spring 2020), several governors — including Cuomo (NY), Murphy (NJ), Wolf (PA), Whitmer (MI), and Newsom (CA) — had policies that allowed some COVID-positive patients to be discharged from hospitals back into nursing homes.

• The reasoning: hospitals were overwhelmed, and the fear was that patients would die in emergency hallways if beds weren’t freed up.

• This did contribute to outbreaks in nursing homes, which were already extremely vulnerable settings.

What’s misleading or false

1. “45 out of 50 governors did not do this”

   • That’s not accurate. Policies varied state by state, and many states had similar guidance at the time, based on federal CDC and CMS recommendations. New York and New Jersey’s policies got the most attention because of their scale and impact, but they weren’t alone.

2. “Nearly 40% of all COVID deaths in the U.S. happened because of this”

   • Roughly 30–40% of U.S. COVID deaths were in nursing homes overall during 2020, but it’s false to pin that entire percentage on the governors’ orders. Nursing homes were high-risk environments everywhere — red states, blue states, urban and rural — because of residents’ age and health vulnerabilities.

   • The virus spread rapidly in long-term care facilities nationwide, regardless of these specific policies.

3. “Premeditated murder”

   • That’s political rhetoric, not fact. These policies were controversial, and in hindsight many experts agree they worsened outbreaks. But they were made in the fog of crisis, when hospitals were near collapse, not with murderous intent.

The bigger context

• The federal government (CMS/CDC) in March 2020 told nursing homes they could not refuse readmission solely based on COVID status if the patient was medically stable. States were implementing that guidance in real time.

• The biggest tragedy is that nursing homes weren’t prioritized early enough for PPE, testing, or staffing — which made them the perfect tinderbox for the virus.

✅ Bottom line:

• Yes, those five governors had policies that returned COVID-positive patients to nursing homes.

• No, it wasn’t unique to them — it was tied to early federal guidance and also done in other states.

• No, it’s not accurate to say this alone caused 40% of U.S. COVID deaths, or that it was “premeditated murder.” That’s spin.