10 days after the Trump administration put in place a requirement for nursing homes to report their number of coronavirus infections and deaths, the numbers are in – and it makes for grim reading.
Around 60,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and nearly 26,000 deaths among nursing home residents have been tallied, according to a letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention to State Governors.
Over 34,400 staff have also been infected with the virus – with 449 dying.
“This data, and anecdotal reports across the country, clearly show that nursing homes have been devastated by the virus,” wrote CDC Director Robert Redfield and CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
These numbers are not final either – the data is based on reports received from about 80% of the country’s 15,400 nursing homes as of May 24.
But the letter states that some states with high rates of nursing home deaths appeared to have low levels of response to the survey – meaning the figures are likely to be even higher.
The CMS, which regulates nursing homes, says it now plans to increase penalties for homes that fail to comply with longstanding infection control requirements.
They will have their work cut out however – a report published by the Government Accountability Office last month found 40% of homes inspected in the past two years were cited for problems with infection control and prevention.
The US has recorded over 105,000 deaths and 1.811 million infections in the pandemic – the highest in the world on both counts.
