Defenseless and vulnerable, America’s seniors faced the brunt of the pandemic when COVID-19 swept through nursing homes. The Wall Street Journal exposed catastrophic mismanagement and cover-ups by public officials. And it forced policy changes that saved the lives of some of America’s most fragile patients. In numerous exclusive stories, the Journal revealed information that officials tried to downplay or hide. Some family members learned for the first time through Journal reporting how their parents died. Our work named officials who failed to protect beloved family members, including thousands of veterans. We were the first to compile data showing the disproportionate death count in nursing homes. We uncovered mismanagement by administrators at the nursing home with one of the U.S.’s deadliest outbreaks. As a result, New Jersey’s governor removed top officials at the state-run veterans facility as well as the head of the state agency that oversees it. The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil-rights investigation. The Journal broke the news that New York-based nursing homes would be forced to accept patients still convalescing from the virus-a decision decried by nursing-facility advocates and administrators. The state was forced to reverse the policy after criticism. “The fact we maintained and pushed COVID-positive patients into facilities that were not equipped to handle them, it was a fatal error,” said one legislator.
