National Guard
The New York National Guard may save the lives of residents and the profits of nursing homes. The Guard will provide custodial care for nursing homes short-staffed. New York’s vaccine mandate kicked in for healthcare workers this week. All nursing home and hospital employees must get at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 80% of staff at all nursing homes in New York were fully vaccinated.
At Genesis HealthCare, which operates long-term-care facilities in 23 states, Covid cases fell by nearly 50 percent after staff members finished receiving shots this summer.
New York released a comprehensive plan to address potential staffing shortages if caregivers opt out. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) will deploy medically trained National Guard members to assist. This will save the nursing homes a lot of money.
Multiple states, including Minnesota, Texas, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, called in the National Guard to help nursing homes.
Meanwhile, Facebook is finally doing something about the vaccine misinformation spread on social media. In a blog post, YouTube said that it would remove videos claiming that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease. Facebook will no longer allow content that includes misinformation on the vaccines. The social media giant will censor claims that erroneously claim vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that the vaccines contain trackers. It is about time.