Murphy: NJ Nursing Homes Should Pay the Price For COVID Approach

(Patch)Gov. Phil Murphy on Sunday defended New Jersey's approach to dealing with nursing homes 8000 deaths amid the COVID crisis, saying long-term care facilities should "pay the price" if they didn't follow the guidelines for preventing the disease's spread. See video below.

Murphy, appearing on CBS's "Face The Nation," acknowledged New Jersey ordered long-term care facilities to admit people who tested positive for COVID. But Murphy said state health officials, in turn, ordered patients to be separated on their own floor, "their own wing, their own building, and staff as well" Murphy said the instructions were "explicit, black-and-white." Some nursing home staffers, however, were walking in and out of the facilities even though they were COVID-positive but asymptomatic, he said. 

The governor said his administration told nursing homes that if they can't separate, "come to us and we'll find another alternative. And many did."

Murphy said some operators "did not take our advice" and if they didn't, "they deserve to pay a price for that." He didn't identify what those consequences would be.

As of Sunday, New Jersey reported 7,924 long-term care facility deaths, of which 7,827 were residents and 143 were staff.

Murphy was asked about the various controversies involving New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo whose administration reportedly worked to conceal the deaths of nursing home residents when the COVID pandemic first hit last spring. Read more: Cuomo Aides Altered COVID Nursing Home Deaths In Study: Reports

Murphy acknowledged that an independent review "gave us a pretty brutal assessment" of how the state addressed COVID-19's impact on long-term care facilities. But he also said New Jersey has worked to be as transparent as possible, noting that the state has been reporting probable COVID deaths since June.

"We have been transparent since day one," he said