With the decline in COVID-19 cases, nursing homes are now appealing to the state to ease its strict testing mandates for employees.

Vivian Zayas lost her mother to COVID-19 on April 1. She says what was supposed to be a routine surgery followed by rehabilitation turned into a nightmare after her 78-year-old mother became sick with the virus at Our Lady of Consolation Nursing and Rehabilitative Care Center in West Islip.

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"The day she was supposed to go home, she ended up with a collapsed lung at the hospital," Zayas told News 12.

She blames her mother's death on a lack of communication and an unprepared health care system.

Zayas, who runs the Facebook group “Voices for Seniors” is furious that nursing homes and rehab centers are calling on the state to scale down how often their employees must be tested for COVID-19.

With Phase 2 now in effect on Long Island, nursing homes are only required to test health care workers once a week.

Stephen Hanse from the New York State Health Facilities Association, which represents more than 400 skilled nursing providers and assisted living communities calls the testing impractical, expensive and unnecessary.

“It really comes down to the significant decreases in positive tests with the increased access to PPE,” he told News 12.

But groups like AARP calls the nursing home industry's request to scale back testing a dangerous move:

"The nursing homes in many ways failed a lot of people in this state during this pandemic," says Bill Ferris, of AARP.

The AARP cited more than 50 virus-related deaths of veterans at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook as an example of long-term health care failing during the pandemic.

The state Health Department is reviewing the Nursing Home Industry's request to scale back testing.