Funeral home unfairly blamed for COVID-19 spread

A prominent black Albanian recently made critical comments in the media about management of the COVID-19 outbreak, leading me to consider the Phoebe Hospital system’s role in its origins. The staff and administration, including Scott Steiner, have made heroic efforts to treat victims and deserve our gratitude. Yet Steiner’s comments in national media about the Albany outbreak downplay Phoebe’s role in its apparent origin.

Asked by a reporter about the outbreak’s origins, he deflected with “It’s Public Health and the CDC’s responsibility to eventually tell that story.” In fact, Phoebe had Albany’s Patient Zero in the hospital on the very day the first super-spreader event took place. The patient was not placed in an isolation room, remained in the hospital for a week in steadily worsening condition, and was still undiagnosed when transferred. While there are extenuating circumstances, this delay in diagnosing the infection allowed many additional exposures and infections, and he ought to shoulder a share of the blame for that.

Hospitals have infectious disease specialists; funeral homes and nursing homes do not. Steiner ought to apologize on behalf of Phoebe for not detecting the infection. As it stands, a black-owned funeral home has become the face of the Albany COVID-19 outbreak for the national media, and this is not fair. Defending Phoebe’s role is understandable, but it is not likely to inspire widespread trust in the medical and public health officials whom we need to trust in this crisis.

— Seth Bigelow

Leesburg