Trying to track the spread of the coronavirus, researchers from UCLA and Yale University have examined the people who continued to enter nursing homes even after visitors were banned: the employees., according to an article on the Kaiser Health News website.

Using location data from smartphones when the visitor ban was in place helped the scientists track the movements of people going into and out of nursing homes. 

The data showed a lot of nursing home workers are working at more than one facility.  One of the study’s authors said the findings suggest that staffers who work in multiple nursing homes are one source of the spread of infections.

More than 84,000 residents and staff members of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died of COVID-19 across the U.S., representing 40 percent of all coronavirus fatalities in the country, according to a recent analysis.

The UCLA team created maps of movement and found that on average each nursing home is connected to seven others through staff movement. 

Read the full Kaiser Health News article.