Covid-19 ravaging long-term care centres at fastest pace since May

New York

COVID-19 is strengthening its grip on one of the most vulnerable populations: senior citizens in long-term care.

Last week, US states reported more than 29,000 new Covid-19 cases in places such as nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.

Counts rose roughly 17 per cent week over week, the steepest acceleration since May, when the Covid Tracking Project began tallying the data.

Half of all new nursing home cases stemmed from the viral epicentre in the Midwest, said the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.

The largest increase last week was in Ohio, which accounted for 10 per cent of all new cases in facilities nationally.

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Less than 1 per cent of the US population lives in such homes, but Covid-19 fatalities inside of them account for 40 per cent of the national death toll.

Available statistics also likely fail to capture the gravity of the issue, as only 30 states report data about active outbreaks within centres.

Even so, the numbers paint a stark picture of pandemic life in facilities for America's elderly, where residents often must forgo visitation or risk further spread.

Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has warned of the dangers in nursing homes, where 19 per cent of facilities have at least 10 cases.

"The name of the game is to control the spread inside the nursing homes," she told governors this week, said a summary provided by Washington governor Jay Inslee's office.

The US reported an additional 155,835 cases on Tuesday, showed Covid Tracking Project data.

There have been more than 248,000 deaths cumulatively, said Johns Hopkins University.

Covid Tracking Project data shows that 76,823 people are hospitalised for Covid-19 in the US, a record.

Wyoming, Nebraska and North Dakota had the most new cases per million people.

The states with the worst momentum are Wyoming, Vermont, Minnesota, Colorado and Alaska, as measured by the percentage change in seven-day average cases from the week before.

Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Wyoming posted record case counts on Tuesday. BLOOMBERG