COVID-19 Update: Eighteen More Nursing Home Deaths

This morning the Virginia Department of Health published the following COVID-19 data based on information reported yesterday:

Statewide deaths: 25
Deaths in long-term care facilities: 18

Seventy-two percent of coronavirus deaths involved patients in long-term care facilities.

Repeat after me: The COVID-19 epidemic is a nursing home epidemic. The virus may propagate itself through the population at large, but the primary impact, as measured by deaths, is taking place in Virginia’s nursing homes. That’s where public health authorities need to concentrate their efforts.

— JAB