Gov. Murphy: NJ Nursing Homes Should Pay Price For COVID Approach

NEW JERSEY – Gov. Phil Murphy on Sunday defended New Jersey's approach to dealing with nursing homes 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.

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.

You can watch the Face the Nation interview here:

Earlier this year, Gannett NJ obtained documents showing that the state Office of Attorney General has convened a grand jury that is investigating the state-run veterans homes — where 200 people have died from COVID-19 — for possible criminal charges.

Murphy has also said New Jersey is testing far more than the state did months ago in long-term care facilities. Many of the cases that are still spreading in long-term care facilities are coming from people who are not showing symptoms, he said.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli has also said that the fact that hundreds of New Jersey facilities continue to report active outbreaks "certainly does not make us happy."

Persichilli has said New Jersey has collected plenty more personal protective equipment than it had at the start of the pandemic. New Jersey also has made sure there is enough staff at the long-term care facilities, she said.

Nursing homes were initially at the center of a controversy over the state's vaccine distribution plan, particularly with prison inmates being a priority on the state's immunization list.

Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who is seeking to unseat Murphy in the 2021 gubernatorial election, has questioned why New Jersey has begun vaccinating prisoners while nursing home residents and others continue to wait.

"Once again for this governor, criminals come first," Ciattarelli earlier this year. "His administration couldn't get its act together to get nursing home patients the vaccine on time, but is quick to get it into prisons — leapfrogging our most vulnerable residents and many front-line health care workers."

Murphy responded that the prison population is a "very vulnerable community and it's why I think we've done this responsibly and safely."

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