ALBANY — They’re trying to get the horse back in the barn.
A month after ordering nursing homes to take coronavirus patients, the state Health Department is finally — and quietly — providing them with much-needed tests for residents, The Post has learned.
Across the Empire State, 8,470 nursing home residents who tested positive for COVID-19 or had symptoms of the disease have now died, according to the most recent figures, which run through May 3.
The state Health Department began reaching out to localities and the nursing homes last week to check their on facilities and capabilities to administer the tests, officials in several counties said.
“I think the state has been way behind on this nursing home issue in terms of transparency and are catching a lot of flack for it and frankly should be,” said Ian Coyle, the top manager in Livingston County.
He said Livingston has already started testing nursing home staff and that the state is “behind us.”
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, a Democrat, told The Post that his staff requested 3,000 tests from the state officials, but DOH has only promised to provide 300 kits so far.
The Hudson Valley politician said he volunteered to drive to Albany and pick up the testing kits himself — but hasn’t heard back on that offer or when the tests might arrive.
“The check is in the mail, we’re waiting,” said Ryan, who added his staff has already tested two nursing homes using kits from their stockpile. But, he said, he needs more tests from the state to check the remaining 11 facilities.
Dutchess County executive Marc Molinaro, the Republican who challenged Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2018, said his staff requested 2,000 tests but state officials have only delivered 250 so far.
“We were assured at that moment the state would assist us, and there was no objection,” he said.
Molinaro added he plans to use the limited number of kits he currently has to check the staff and residents of at one nursing home — 11 facilities will still need tests.
Steuben County — home to the Hornell Gardens nursing home, where state officials allowed sick workers to stay on the job — received kits Tuesday and will begin testing Thursday.
Officials controversially ordered the state’s nursing homes on March 25 to readmit residents and take new patients who tested positive for COVID-19 if they were not ill enough to need emergency room care.
Critics say the decision helped to introduce the deadly disease in the facilities, which are home to some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
“It’s an active plan that’s being built,” said a state Health Department spokesman, who added that the tests were being distributed based on the needs of local governments.
