York County Lawmakers Applaud Investigation into COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths

March 1, 2021

HARRISBURG – It was announced today that the House Government Oversight Committee will investigate the Wolf administration’s handling of nursing homes and long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, the York County House Republican delegation, consisting of House Appropriations Chairman Stan Saylor (R-Red Lion) and Reps. Kate Klunk (R-Hanover), Keith Gillespie (R-Hellam), Seth Grove (R-Dover), Dawn Keefer (R-Dillsburg) and Mike Jones (R-York Township), issued the following statement:

“In less than a year since the pandemic hit the Commonwealth, Department of Health records show nearly 12,500 Pennsylvanians residing in nursing home and long-term care facilities died of COVID-19. This morbid number ranks Pennsylvania with the third highest nursing home deaths in the nation. This is an unacceptable statistic. We have full confidence the House Government Oversight Committee will do everything in its power to determine what happened and how, and if policies set forth by the Wolf administration impacted our most vulnerable residents.

“For one, we hope the committee will look into a Wolf order for long-term care facilities to accept COVID-19-positive patients. This issue was highlighted last week during a House Appropriations Committee hearing with the Department of Health when Acting Secretary Alison Beam refused to answer whether putting COVID-positive patients into nursing homes was a mistake. The policy was in place at the time when former Secretary of Health Rachel Levine moved her own mother out of such a facility. We also encourage the committee to investigate missing nursing home data.

“This investigation will not bring back the nearly 12,500 people who died of the virus in long-term care facilities. The investigation will seek answers for the thousands of families of the residents who have passed. We can never allow this disastrous situation to occur again. We need to know what went wrong and how the administration’s policies impacted the lives of so many people who reside in these long-term care facilities. The people of the Commonwealth deserve answers and transparency.”

York County Republican Delegation
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Greg Gross
717.260.6374
ggross@pahousegop.com