New data is emerging on how COVID-19 response policies failed to protect one of the most vulnerable groups to the disease—the 2.1 million residents of American nursing homes.
After COVID-19 struck the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, resulting in at least 30 deaths, nursing homes and residential care facilities became a focal point of the COVID-19 response. Although COVID-19 affects the elderly more severely than younger individuals on average, statistics show that deaths are more concentrated in elderly individuals who live in nursing homes or residential care facilities than those that do not reside in a facility.
The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) has been monitoring infection and death rates among the nursing home population and reports that as of June 2, 2020, approximately 42 percent of all COVID-19 deaths occurred in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
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