Nearly half of all coronavirus deaths in US are from long-term care facilities: Report

From the Washington Inquirer:

The COVID-19 virus death rate is highest among residents of long-term care facilities.

Using extrapolated data, the report from the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity concludes that 43% of deaths from the coronavirus in the United States occurred in facilities that house 0.62% of the population, with 1.8% of nursing home residents have succumbed to the virus.

Data that excludes New York state increases the proportion of deaths in long-term facilities to 53.2%. The researchers say that New York, the epicenter of the COVID-19 virus outbreak, reports deaths of nursing home residents who die in hospitals as hospital deaths, and New York’s higher than average death rate could also account for the lower proportion of nursing home deaths.

In New Jersey, nearly 10% of all long-term care facility residents have died from the COVID-19 virus. States such as New York, New Jersey, and Michigan ordered nursing homes to admit patients who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.