Milly Silva, executive vice president of the union that represents nursing home workers, told Capital Tonight that the health and safety issues caregivers have been confronting for now a year must be addressed by Albany quickly.

"We have to invest. We have to make sure that quality care is the priority as we are learning the lessons of what happened over the past year during the pandemic," Silva said. "We cannot lose this moment."

While Silva did not directly say she supports safe staffing levels, she did state that the union is pushing for legislation that would mandate 70% of all aid sent to nursing homes be allocated to "an improvement in care at the bedside."

Additionally, there are two other proposals that 1199 SEIU is pushing: the first is a measure ensuring appropriate infection control and PPE, the second is a measure to ensure that "excessive profits aren’t being pulled out of nursing homes."

"We are confident that legislators and the administration are starting to listen," Silva said.