Nursing homes, veterans’ homes are Covid-19 hotspots

Although much of the nation’s focus has been on the surge of Covid-19 cases and deaths in New York and other large cities, the overlooked epicenter of the pandemic is our nation’s nursing homes, veterans’ homes, and other long-term care facilities, according to an article on the STAT website.

 At the end of April, with data available from 30 states, in one-third of them more than 40 percent of the statewide Covid-19 deaths were in long-term care facilities.

 In Massachusetts, for instance,103 veterans so far have died in two residential and long-term care facilities. In Illinois, hundreds of deaths due to Covid-19 have been reported by long-term care facilities. Nearly all nursing homes in New Jersey have reported at least one case. 

The current widespread strategy of testing only individuals who are symptomatic for Covid-19 won’t curb this pandemic in these settings., according to the article.

Read the article.