Watchdog: Nursing home deaths up 32% in 2020 amid pandemic

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deaths among Medicare patients in nursing homes soared by 32% last year, with two devastating spikes eight months apart, a government watchdog reported Tuesday in the most comprehensive look yet at the ravages of COVID-19 among its most vulnerable victims.

The report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services found that about 4 in 10 Medicare recipients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020, and that deaths overall jumped by 169,291 from the previous year, before the coronavirus appeared.

“We knew this was going to be bad, but I don’t think even those of us who work in this area thought it was going to be this bad,” said Harvard health policy professor David Grabowski, a nationally recognized expert on long-term care, who reviewed the report for The Associated Press.

“This was not individuals who were going to die anyway,” Grabowski added. “We are talking about a really big number of excess deaths.”

-snip-

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
an hour ago


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/nursing-homes-coronavirus-pandemic-pandemics-business-health-f1a44187198ccca1e4311ac72f4f42aa

[LisaM]

1. Horrible.

My mother is 85, 84 when the pandemic really kicked in. My dad died in 2019, both had been living at home, though my dad had some issues with mobility towards the end. So, where my mother should live was something we'd all thought about.

Thank goodness she stayed put. She's mentally sharp (luckily) and lives in a one-story house. By keeping a small bubble of helpers and being really careful, she got through just fine, and now her entire circle is vaccinated (she and her part time helper were jabbed really early).

My heart goes out to people who already were, or whose loved ones were, in a care facility. What an absolute holocaust.

[CountAllVotes]

2. Tragic!

My cousin's mother lives in one of these assisted living centers (aka fancy nursing home).

She contracted COVID-19 several months ago and is still in this place.

My cousin goes to see her every so often. She is almost 90 years old!

If that was my mother, I would have got here out of this DUMP as soon as I could have done it!

Today she is still there while this cousin counts his money being he sold her house and his uncle's farm.

Kind of makes me just a little bit sick ya know?

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Did any of them ride around in an SUV limo waving at crowds?

I didn't think so.

[Calista241]

4. That's a shitload of people. n/t

[yaesu]

5. Actually I'm surprised it wasn't higher. nt

[Deep State Witch]

6. Surprised It Isn't Higher

The mother of one of my friends from HS was in a nursing home/rehab facility due to a fall. She was 95, but in decent health for a woman of that age. The facility was able to keep COVID out - until Thanksgiving. They don't know if a visitor brought it in, or a staff member who celebrated with an infected family. But, it got in and went through the facility like wildfire. My friend's mom died a week before Christmas.