Sens. Wyden, Casey Demand Action on COVID-19 in Nursing Homes on Call With Senior Trump Health Official

WASHINGTON, May 7 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, ranking Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following news:

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senate Aging Committee Ranking Member Bob Casey, D-Penn., called on the Trump administration to commit to a timeline and plan to release data on COVID-19 infections and deaths in nursing homes.

Wyden and Casey asked for this commitment in phone call with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma. The most recent news media reports indicate there have been more than 20,000 deaths in these facilities.

"This administration's response to the COVID-19 crisis in America's nursing homes has been wholly inadequate," Wyden and Casey said. "We have been calling for more than a month for infection and death data to be made available, and Administrator Verma's unwillingness to commit to a timeline to publicly release this data means the Trump administration is failing seniors, their families, and the public health response to COVID-19. There have been no signs that the Trump administration has an effective plan to address the tragedy that is taking place in America's nursing homes."

Last month, Wyden and Casey called on CMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to release information on COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes around the country. Over two weeks ago, the Trump administration committed to release this information, but to date there has still been no public reporting by the administration.