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Richard Zaib served in the U.S. Navy. He served his country faithfully and without fear, saluting the flag and protecting everything it represents. He was strong, smart and happy. He loved to sing and compose music and, if the family folklore is true, he even published a comic book. Those were the good old days.

Today, the 83-year-old is confined to a hospital bed at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center/Northwell Health in New York. He's being treated for COVID-19, something his family believes he caught at a New York nursing home.

Zaib's roommate also has tested positive for coronavirus.

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They are among scores of people who have been unprotected and infected while staying in nursing homes because of a state directive that prohibits facilities from turning away sick COVID-19 patients, even if it means exposing others to the deadly virus that has infected 3.6 million people and killed more than 220,000 globally.

In March, New York State officials told nursing-home operators that they would be required to accept patients infected with the novel coronavirus who were discharged from hospitals but are still recovering and in need of care. Not only did the directive strain the state's health-care system, it also put virus-free patients in New York's nursing homes like Zaib in jeopardy.

New York's Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo promised on March 2 to make a "special effort" for nursing homes and congregate housing senior citizens. The state directed nursing homes to screen visitors and consider modifying visiting hours on March 6, and later suspended visits to nursing homes statewide on March 12.

The directive to force nursing homes to take in COVID-19 patients at the risk of others drew pushback from nursing home officials as well as the AMDA, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, which said that "admitting patients with suspected or documented COVID-19 infection represents a clear and present danger to all of the residents of a nursing home."

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David Grabowski, a professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School, told NBC News that there were only a few places that could safely adhere to the state's policy.

"The existing places that can really do this safely in terms of staffing and building space to keep them separate are in the minority," he said.

Zaib's nephew, Joseph Ricupero, told Fox News that it's tough to think of his uncle in the hospital going through one of the scariest battles of his life alone.

"I'm not allowed to visit," Ricupero said of his uncle, who went on to become a New York City bus driver after the Navy. "They don't know how he got (COVID-19) or how long he's had it."

In this April 17, 2020, file photo, a patient is loaded into an ambulance by emergency medical workers outside Cobble Hill Health Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York. New York state is now reporting more than 1,700 previously undisclosed deaths at nursing homes and adult care facilities as the state faces scrutiny over how it’s protected vulnerable residents during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP)

Zaib, who also served at president of the Amalgamated Transit Union/Division 1056, was admitted to Holliswood Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Hollis, Queens, in late February, following a stint at Jamaica Hospital, where he had one of his toes amputated due to complications from diabetes. At Holliswood, his condition deteriorated.

"He had 104-degree fever and they didn't tell us about it until a week later -- and I'm his health proxy," Ricupero said.

Ricupero, who talks to his uncle on the phone multiple times a day, says all Zaib wants to do is leave.

"Every day he wants to go. He says that the food is terrible, the hospital is cold, the call button isn't working and he's tough with his medication -- but he's alive," Ricupero said.

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Yes, he's alive. He's one of the lucky ones.

The consequences of Cuomo's directive have been devastating to some of the state's most vulnerable residents.

New York has recorded at least 4,968 confirmed and presumed deaths related to coronavirus at nursing homes and adult-care facilities, including 71 confirmed deaths at just one center, according to state data released Monday.

The state had acknowledged that previous data from nursing homes had been inconsistent, with only some reporting deaths of people who were presumed to have the virus as well as confirmed cases.

While the new numbers reflect New York's efforts to have more comprehensive reporting, some uncertainties remain, including the number of nursing home residents who were transferred to hospitals before dying.

Parker Jewish Institute in Queens and Isabella Geriatric Center -- one of New York City's largest nursing homes with 705 beds -- reported the highest number of deaths: 71 and 64, respectively.

Audrey Waters, a spokeswoman for Isabella Geriatric Center, said that "Isabella, like all other nursing homes in New York City, initially had limited access to widespread and consistent in-house testing to quickly diagnose our residents and staff. This hampered our ability to identify those who were infected and asymptomatic, despite our efforts to swiftly separate anyone who presented symptoms."

In many cases, New York's new figures reveal many more deaths than previously reported at nursing homes: Isabella Geriatric Center had 13 COVID-19 deaths reported as of May 1, and now reports the deaths of 21 patients who were confirmed to have COVID-19, along with 43 deaths of residents presumed to have COVID-19. Ozanam Hall of Queens now is reporting a total of 53 deaths, up from just 10.

In Cobble Hill, 50 people who were suspected of being infected with COVID-19 recently died at the Brooklyn nursing home.

Cobble Hill Health Center Chief Executive Donny Tuchman said his center had to go it alone for weeks during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak.

Some of his staff wore garbage bags for protection. Others worked 16-hour shifts. At one point, patients were dying so fast that the center's refrigerated storage hit its maximum capacity and workers were forced to rotate bodies in and out as they waited for space at funeral homes or morgues to open up.

With dozens of symptomatic patients and almost no gowns in early April, Tuchman begged the state for more PPEs.

"There is no way for us to prevent the spread under these conditions," he wrote to state health officials on April 8, in an email seen by The Wall Street Journal. "Is there anything more we can do to protect our patients and staff?"

State officials emailed guidance on how to conserve supplies and told him to resubmit requests daily to New York City's Office of Emergency.

Several veterans homes have also been hit hard.

The Long Island State Veterans Home has reported 53 deaths, including 48 confirmed and five presumed COVID-19 deaths. The New York State Veterans Home at St. Albans in Queens has reported 33 deaths, while New York State Veterans Home at Montrose in Westchester says 22 residents have died.

Critics say it's one of the biggest betrayals to veterans and New York's elderly at a time when the state should be bending over backward to help them.

"They die alone," Ricupero said. "You can't have a proper send-off for them."

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Former New York Gov. George Pataki has called for an independent investigation into Cuomo's administration over its handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes across the state.

"I know Andrew Cuomo is one of the most popular politicians in America today," he told Fox News. "He has his briefings that are calm and informative, but when you look at the job that he is not doing when it comes to nursing homes, those beds should have been used to put the most vulnerable in those facilities... What happened in New York, in my mind, is a disgrace."

An email to the governor's office seeking a comment was not immediately returned.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.