Connecticut urges nursing homes to admit COVID-positive patients

Virus Outbreak-Fatality Count — FILE – In this March 21, 2021 file photo, a box with the cremated ashes of Dnynia Armstrong, center, a nursing home COVID-19 victim, surrounded with baskets of pinecones representing other nursing home pandemic deaths, is displayed during a news conference in New York. More than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration’s death toll is still nearly 11,000 lower than the federal government’s own tally. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

The state of Connecticut is asking nursing homes to accept patients who have COVID-19 to help overburdened hospitals straining under the weight of new variants.

Hundreds of healthcare workers have been fired over not getting vaccinated, leading to severe staffing shortages and emergency room beds being placed in hallways, KTLA5 reported. Despite the fact nursing homes have been proven breeding grounds for deadly COVID-19, the Connecticut Department of Public Health issued the guideline on Thursday.