Nursing Homes continue to be hit hardest by COVID

NEW YORK (AP) — As calls grow nationwide for mandatory coronavirus testing in nursing homes, New York facilities are sounding alarms about the state’s ambitious new demand to test roughly 185,000 workers twice a week.

The scale of what NY, NJ, PA, and other governors did with our seniors is only just now coming to light.

The New York State Department of Health acknowledged that the state has omitted an unknown number of coronavirus deaths in recent reports regarding residents of nursing home and adult care facilities.

This comes as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces criticism for ordering nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to accept patients from hospitals who had tested positive for coronavirus. Cuomo rescinded the March 25 order, which experts say led to higher levels of death among nursing home residents.

The NYSDOH confirmed to the DCNF that until around April 28, it was disclosing coronavirus deaths for all nursing home and adult care facility residents, regardless of whether the patient died at their long-term care facility or at a hospital.

Based on a new analysis of state-by-state COVID-19 fatality reports, it is clear that the most underappreciated aspect of the novel coronavirus pandemic is its effect on a specific population of Americans: those living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

SARS-CoV-2 affects the elderly far more severely, on average, than younger individuals.

But it turns out that among those who are elderly, deaths are concentrated even further among those living in long term care facilities. 

40 percent of U.S. COVID-19 deaths have occurred in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The share of deaths occurring in nursing homes and assisted living facilities is highest in Minnesota, at 84 percent, using the latest data as of May 11, 2020. (Source: G. Girvan / FREOPP)

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