By DAVID CRARY NEW YORK (AP)
In New York, the hardest-hit state during most of the pandemic, a new survey suggests that factors other than the workplace were involved in many recent cases.
The survey of 1,269 patients admitted to 113 hospitals over three recent days confounded expectations that new cases would be dominated by essential workers, especially those traveling on subways and buses. Instead, retirees accounted for 37% of the people hospitalized; 46% were unemployed.
“We were thinking that maybe we were going to find a higher percentage of essential employees who were getting sick because they were going to work, that these may be nurses, doctors, transit workers. That’s not the case,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In Pennsylvania, of 2,578 new cases between May 4 and May 6, more than 40% were people living in long-term care facilities. Health officials in Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County said of the 352 new cases between April 20 and May 5, 35% were residents in long-term care facilities and 14% were health care workers.
Though the elderly continue to account for a disproportionate share of COVID-19 cases, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the age ratio is changing. In January-February, 76% of cases involved people 50 or older. Since March, only about half the cases are of that age range,
Many health workers were among the earliest Americans to test positive. They continue to be infected in large numbers.
Gerard Brogan, director of nursing practice for the California Nurses Association, says as many as 200 nurses a day tested positive in California recently. Nationwide, he says the National Nurses United had tallied more than 28,000 positive tests and more than 230 deaths among health workers.
Among those recently testing
positive was Dr. Pramila Kolisetty of Scarsdale, New York, who has a rehab and pain management practice in the Bronx and is married to a urologist.
Even after New York imposed an extensive lockdown, she went to her office two to three times a week while trying to transition to telemedicine.
“It took time for us to get ourselves organized,” she said. “We can’t just close the office and say, that’s it.”
Some of her staff fell sick with COVID-19, and she started feeling symptoms a few weeks ago. After testing positive, she isolated at home and is now practicing telemedicine.
Cuomo, the New York governor, said individual decisions could help slow the pace of new infections.
“Much of this comes down to what you do to protect yourself,” Cuomo said at a recent briefing. “Everything is closed down, the government has done everything it could. ... Now it’s up to you. Are you wearing a mask, are you doing the hand sanitizer?”