Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., told Newsmax TV on Thursday that many of Pennsylvania’s nursing home deaths from the coronavirus, "could have been prevented" with the right measures.
Reschenthaler, in an interview with Thursday's "National Report," addressed reports more than 60% of deaths from the coronavirus in his state occurred in nursing homes, the highest rate in the nation.
"It's so unfortunate because these deaths could have been prevented," Reschenthaler said. "If Gov. [Tom] Wolf of Pennsylvania would have taken the steps that [Gov.] Ron DeSantis of Florida took, and that was to actually protect nursing homes, we could have had far-fewer deaths."
He noted, Pennsylvania is "approaching 3,500 deaths in nursing homes, which is actually roughly 67% of all deaths" from the coronavirus in the state, adding "a lot of it is attributable to the fact that our far-left governor, Gov. Wolf, had an order that mandated that nursing homes actually accept residents that had COVID-19.
"We should never have done that, and the health secretary, Dr. [Rachel] Levine, knew this was dangerous," Reschenthaler added. "She took her own mother out of her nursing home and put her in a hotel, while leaving the rest of the public and their loved ones exposed in these nursing homes that were accepting COVID-19 patients."
The congressman also said, "other blue-state governors, when they realized the folly and how poor this decision really was, this policy, they changed immediately. Our governor doubled-down, and that order is still on the books, which is leading to these deaths in nursing homes."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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