43% of US COVID-19 deaths were nursing home residents.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On June 25 I published the article - 81% of Canada's COVID-19 deaths were long-term care residents. I based my article on the June 25 report by Globe and Mail Health Reporter Kelly Grant, who wrote about the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) report: Pandemic Experience in Long-Term Care Sector.

A few days before I republished the article by Michael Cook concerning the abuse of palliative drug cocktails in Sweden, that led to higher percentages of COVID-19 deaths and at least 50% of the deaths being residents of nursing homes. 

In my article: Stealth euthanasia: How many Canadian Seniors with COVID-19 were killed? I suggest that the same abuse happened in Sweden and Canada.

Today I am writing a commentary on the article in the New York Times published on June 27 titled: 43% of US Coronavirus deaths are linked to nursing homes.

The data in the New York Times article is based on deaths up to June 26. The data in the article - 81% of Canadian COVID-19 deaths were linked to long-term care residents is based on deaths up to May 25. The percentage of Canadian long-term care resident deaths likely decreased between May 25 and June 26 as Canada's provincial governments began to focus on lowering the infection and death rates in nursing homes.

The New York Times article states that 43% of the Coronavirus deaths were linked to nursing homes while 11% of the known cases were nursing home residents. According to the article:

At least 54,000 residents and workers have died from the coronavirus at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities for older adults in the United States, according to a New York Times database. As of June 26, the virus has infected more than 282,000 people at some 12,000 facilities. 

While 11 percent of the country’s cases have occurred in long-term care facilities, deaths related to Covid-19 in these facilities account for more than 43 percent of the country’s pandemic fatalities. 

The share of deaths linked to long-term care facilities for older adults is even starker at the state level. In 24 states, the number of residents and workers who have died accounts for either half or more than half of all deaths from the virus.

This chart concerning percentage of deaths is from the New Times article.

Cases and deaths in long-term care facilities, by state

	FACILITIES	CASES	DEATHS	SHARE OF COVID‑19 DEATHS ▼
United States	12,000	282,000	54,000	43%
New Hampshire	26	1,967	293	80%
Rhode Island	64	2,745	715	77%
Minnesota	853	5,777	1,107	77%
Connecticut	289	9,888	3,124	73%
Pennsylvania	678	20,689	4,518	68%
North Dakota	65	569	56	64%
Massachusetts	565	23,321	5,115	64%
Idaho	30	323	56	62%
Maryland	289	12,641	1,924	61%
Virginia	236	6,714	1,039	61%

The New York Times conducted its own research:

In the absence of comprehensive data from some states and the federal government, The Times has been assembling its own database of coronavirus cases and deaths at long-term care facilities for older adults. These include nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, memory care facilities, retirement and senior communities and rehabilitation facilities.

The Canadian research was done by a government supported agency that had access to all of the data enabling them to determine if a death was related to a long-term care facility.

The data in the New York Times article is devastating and indicates that it is necessary to conduct a full inquiry into nursing homes which should lead to possible elder abuse and homicide charges.We need to rethink nursing homes and support community based care.

More articles on this topic:

• Stealth euthanasia: How many Canadian seniors with COVID-19 were killed? (Link).
• 81% of Canada's COVID-19 deaths were long-term care residents  (Link).
• 4500 New York COVID-19 positive patients were sent to nursing homes (Link).
• Euthanasia doctor developed Ontario COVID-19 triage guidelines  (Link).
• Pandemic palliative care protocol. Selecting people to die and abusing the purpose of palliative care (Link).
• Decision making protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic (Link).
• COVID-19 triage guidelines and nursing home deaths (Link).
• Military reports disturbing conditions in Ontario nursing homes (Link).
• Report on Quebec nursing homes confirms the need to rethink nursing homes (Link).
• A different type of COVID-19 death (Link).