At least 25,600 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. The virus so far has infected more than 143,000 at some 7,500 facilities.
Long-term care facilities with at least one coronavirus case
States that provide some facility data
States that provide no facility data
Nursing home populations are at a high risk of being infected by — and dying from — the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is known to be particularly lethal to older adults with underlying health conditions, and can spread more easily through congregate facilities, where many people live in a confined environment and workers move from room to room.
While just about 10 percent of the country’s cases have occurred in long-term care facilities, deaths related to Covid-19 in these facilities account for a third of the country’s pandemic fatalities.
A third of U.S. coronavirus deaths are linked to long-term care facilities.
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.
Some states, including Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey and South Carolina, regularly release cumulative data on cases and deaths at specific facilities. California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio, among others, provide some details on the number of cases — but not on deaths. Others report aggregate totals for their state but provide no information on where the infections or deaths have occurred. About a dozen report very little or nothing at all.
The share of deaths tied to long-term care facilities for older adults is even more stark at the state level. In about a dozen states, the number of residents and workers who have died accounts for more than half of all deaths from the virus.
The Times’s numbers are based on official confirmations from states, counties and the facilities themselves. They include residents and, in cases where reporting is available, employees of the facilities. Given the wide variability in the type of information available, the totals shown here almost certainly represent an undercount of the true toll.
Cases and deaths in long-term care facilities, by state
State reporting comprehensive aggregate data
Note: In New York, the case count is the same as the death count because the state only reports the number of people who have died but not the number of overall infections.
Based on The Times’s analysis, some 800 of the country’s 3,100 counties have at least one coronavirus case related to a long-term care facility for older adults.
Hover overTap on each county to see the number of coronavirus cases at long-term care facilities, as well as the total number of cases in that county.
Cases in long-term care facilities in each county
Note: Not all states report facility-level data.
The New York Times is tracking the coronavirus at nursing homes and long-term care centers. Do you or a family member live or work in one of these facilities? If so, we’d like to hear from you.
Here is a list of cases and deaths at long-term care facilities that have had at least 50 cases. We update the numbers as we are able to confirm them with state, county and facility officials.
