Almost 26,000 Nursing Home Residents Have Died From COVID-19, Feds Say
- June 02, 2020
The AP (6/1, Alonso-Zaldivar, Choi) reports “nearly 26,000 nursing home residents have died from COVID-19, the government reported Monday, as federal officials demanded states carry out more inspections and vowed higher fines for facilities with poor infection control.” The partial data “released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are certain to go higher, as only about 80% of nursing homes have reported.”
The Wall Street Journal (6/1, Kamp, Matthews, Subscription Publication) reports the nursing home survey indicated that there have been 25,923 COVID-19 deaths among residents, and 449 fatalities among staff.
Bloomberg Law (6/1, Pugh, Subscription Publication) reports “about 25% of reporting facilities had at least one [COVID-19] case, and about 20% had at least one [COVID-19] related death, the data showed.” The piece says “facilities that had a one-star quality rating were more likely to have a large [COVID-19] patient count than facilities with a five-star quality rating.”
CNN (6/1, Luhby) reports “the District of Columbia had the highest rate, with 206 cases per 1,000 nursing home residents, followed by Massachusetts and Arizona.” Meanwhile, “Hawaii reported no cases, while Vermont and Montana had fewer than one case per 1,000 facility residents.”
Modern Healthcare (6/1, Brady, Subscription Publication) reports “states haven’t inspected nearly half of nursing homes to make sure they’re meeting federal infection control standards, CMS said Monday.”