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As coronavirus fatalities decline nationwide, viral deaths persist in America's nursing homes, data shows - Yahoo! Voices
Aug 10, 2020 1 min, 30 secs

Since March, long-term care facilities across the nation have been ravaged by the coronavirus and have accounted for roughly 40% of virus-related deaths, data shows.

MORE: In first federal count, over 25,000 coronavirus deaths in nursing homes.

And more than six months into the effort to fight the outbreak, those numbers show the virus continues to find pathways into nursing homes, accounting for at least 63,000 of the nation's more than 162,000 total coronavirus deaths.

Similarly in Kentucky, where nursing home fatalities accounted for 56% of deaths in late May, they now make up 63% of those who succumbed to the disease.

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island all continue to show significant death tolls in nursing homes, even as the overall number of fatalities has declined -- with the facilities accounting for more than 60% of each state's total number of deadly cases.

As the number of fatalities in nursing homes continues to remain high, multiple efforts are underway to protect nursing home residents.

The $2 trillion coronavirus relief packaged passed by Congress in March created mechanisms by which nursing homes could receive federal aid to help them combat the virus and keep employees on the payroll.

On Friday, the agency announced its plans to allocate these funds through an initial $2.5 billion distributed to nursing homes in mid-August to support increased testing, staffing, PPE needs, and COVID-19 isolation facilities

MORE: Inside nursing homes, coronavirus brings isolation and 7,300 deaths; Outside, families yearn for news

For nursing home advocates like Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, the latest figures showing the persistence of the virus in nursing homes serve as a reminder of the challenges the facilities will continue to face

As coronavirus fatalities decline nationwide, viral deaths persist in America's nursing homes, data shows originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

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