In the state of New York, 19 nursing homes each reported 20 or more deaths from COVID-19.
A nursing home in New Jersey reported 70 deaths from 500 residents.
According to New York Prime Minister Andrew Cuomo, these homes have become a “frenzy” for the virus and “the greatest fear.” Given the accumulation of people who are frail and suffering from numerous other diseases such as heart disease, stroke, chronic lung disease and Diabetes, the risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19 in nursing homes is much higher, but the United States does not know how many people die from COVID-19, in part because the government is only now demanding that Nursing homes begin reporting the numbers of suspected and confirmed cases and deaths to the federal centers for disease control and prevention.
The lack of cases could dramatically distort the national death rate.
When France began reporting death records from some of its nursing homes, the number of daily COVID-19 deaths almost doubled, and the Associated Press conducted its own survey in the U.S. and found that by the 24th
Almost 11,000 COVID-related nursing home deaths were recorded nationwide in April.
However, only 23 states have publicly reported deaths in nursing homes.
States also differ in how and where they conduct tests, and some only count proven cases, not suspected cases, which results in a significant underestimation of the death toll, as a geriatrician at the Boston Medical Center and researcher at the Boston University School of Medicine, I was dismayed to see COVID-19 become a deadly flash flood among the very old people I care for and study.
I would not be surprised if the number of deaths in nursing homes is at least twice that in the United States of COVID-19.
In Massachusetts, 77% of nursing homes are….
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