New concerns in New York tonight over waste and possible mismanagement after many things like ventilators and hospital beds and facilities went unused as the state battles COVID-19. FEMA is closing the Javits Center after reportedly treating 1000 patients in the 2500 bed facility in a month. And the USNS Comfort sailed out of New York after seeing few patients in terms of its capacity as well. Here now, former governor of New York, former New York Governor George Pataki joins me. Governor Pataki, always good to see you, sir. Thank you very much for joining tonight. Thank you, Martha. So, you know, obviously, it's good news that these facilities that were built weren't maxed out and overflowing. That would have been a complete nightmare for a city that has already endured the burden, the biggest burden of this. But it does raise questions about whether or not, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars went into building these facilities that were based on models that should not have been adhered to. Absolutely right, Martha. But it's not just about wasting money, as bad as that is. It's about losing lives. And I know Andrew Cuomo is one of the most popular politicians in America today.
He has his briefings that are calm and informative. But when you look at the job that he is not doing when it comes to nursing homes, those beds should have been used to put the most vulnerable in those facilities. What happened in New York in my mind is a disgrace. The state directed nursing homes, and the one thing we know about this virus is the most vulnerable were the elderly. They directed that nursing homes take Coronavirus positive patients when they didn't have that protection, personal protective equipment. They didn't have the facilities. And as a consequence, we are approaching 4000 deaths in New York from nursing homes alone. Yes, they have wasted assets. Those positive patients should have been placed in the Javits Center or on the Comfort. They weren't. It's a failed policy and it's really sad for the people of New York, particularly those families who have lost loved ones. Yeah, I mean, it's a policy that is just almost impossible to wrap your head around. There's one facility that has the Isabella Geriatric Center. They lost 98 people from that center. It's 14 percent of their total - in their total residents.
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