A Kaiser Health News investigation found that many nursing homes and hospitals ignored official guidelines to separate COVID-19 patients from those not infected, according to an article on the NPR website.

A July National Nurses United survey found that 32 percent work in a facility that does not have a dedicated COVID-19 unit. 

The KHN investigation found that patients with COVID-19 have been commingled with uninfected patients in healthcare facilities in states including California, Florida, New Jersey, Iowa, Ohio, Maryland and New York.

One example: A COVID-19 outbreak was in full swing at the New Jersey Veterans Home at Paramus in late April when inspectors observed residents with dementia mingling in a dayroom, including coronavirus-positive patients.

By the end of July 2020, more than 60,000 deaths had occurred in US nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, accounting for nearly half of all COVID-related fatalities nationwide.

Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that nursing homes must “provide supplies necessary to adhere to recommended infection prevention and control practices.”

Read the full NPR article.