Source: Spencer Platt / Getty
New reports state nursing homes across the United States have also been hit hard by the coronavirus.
Weeks ago we told you about a senior couple who’d been separated due to the risks of catching the deadly disease. Good thing they were. According to several reports, confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the nation have doubled to more than 5,600 in nursing homes and other longterm care facilities.
From Press TV:
“By far the largest increase in nursing home deaths was in New York state, where the death count soared from 1,330 last week to 3,060, as of Wednesday. In New Jersey, the number of nursing homes deaths has risen nearly five-fold within the last eight days, from 128 to 625 deaths. Massachusetts has also been hit hard, with 444 nursing home deaths in 214 facilities. But the true toll among the 1 million mostly frail and elderly people who live in such facilities is likely much higher, experts say, because most state counts don’t include those who died without ever being tested for COVID-19. Experts say nursing home deaths may keep climbing because of chronic staffing shortages that have been made worse by the coronavirus crisis, a shortage of protective supplies and a continued lack of available testing.”
A separate report that went out this morning states police found 17 bodies at a New Jersey nursing home morgue this week. From CBS News:
“According to police, the bodies were discovered after New Jersey Representative Josh Gottheimer received a request from the nursing home for 25 body bags. The high number of fatalities at the nursing home [the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center] was unknown to authorities, prompting a police visit. Upon visiting the center, police learned that the morgue was holding 17 bodies — but only had capacity for four — and that one body was kept in a shed before being moved to the morgue. The New York Times reported that the 17 bodies were among 68 recent deaths linked to the facility, and 26 of the people who died had tested positive for COVID-19.”
Let’s do our best to take care of our most vulnerable communities. We are keeping the nation in prayer.
