© APDr. Rachel Levine
Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Tuesday that her 95-year-old mother requested to be moved out of a personal-care home, the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg reported.
"My mother requested, and my sister and I as her children complied, to move her to another location during the COVID-19 outbreak," said Levine, according to ABC27.
"My mother is 95 years old. She is very intelligent and more than competent to make her own decisions," Levine added.
After criticism from some state lawmakers for the move, Levine argued she's working to ensure the health and safety of all state residents, according to the report.
In March, Levine ordered long-term care facilities in the state to continue to accept coronavirus patients who had been discharged from hospitals but unable to return to their homes, the Bucks County Courier Times reported.
Of the state's 3,806 coronavirus deaths, 2,611 had occurred in nursing homes and long-term-care facilities, according to ABC27.
The Pennsylvania attorney general has reportedly opened a criminal investigation of several facilities in the wake of the rising death toll.
"While we salute and appreciate nursing-home staff on the front lines during this pandemic, we will not tolerate those who mistreat our seniors and break the law," state Attorney General Josh Shapiro told NBC News.
Comment: It's okay for policy makers to make their own decisions about how they will or will not comply with their own dictates in response to the corona-circus, but not okay for anyone else.