Nursing home residents have accounted for more than one-third of the 26,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States, according to an ABC News analysis. There have been more than 77,400 deaths.
The grim figure was compiled from public reporting by health departments in 35 states plus Washington, D.C. The number indicates both the threat elderly people face in crowded buildings and the role that institutional settings have played in the spread of the virus.
The states with the highest percentage of deaths inside nursing homes were Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, the analysis showed.
Massachusetts has recorded 4,552 total deaths, with 2,739, or 60.2%, inside a nursing home. In Pennsylvania, of the 3,416 total deaths so far, 2,355, or 68.9%, were in a nursing home. Rhode Island has recorded fewer total deaths but a higher percentage — 280 of 388, about 72% — in a nursing home.
If the number of total nursing home deaths were adjusted to account for only the states reporting their nursing home data, the deaths would make up 40% of the total U.S. fatalities.
