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Coronavirus onslaught continues at US nursing homes

Saturday, 18 April 2020 6:31 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 18 April 2020 6:32 PM ]

Medics removing the dead from a pile of bodies found at US nursing home. (file photo)

Coronavirus-related deaths have continued to ravage nursing homes across the United States, killing at least 7,000 people.

Yahoo News on Saturday cited the New York Times as reporting that the number of people living in or connected to nursing homes who have died of the coronavirus to be at least 7,000, far higher than previously known.

The report said deaths related to the COVID-19 outbreak continued to rise despite urgent new safety measures.

Family members of residents nursing homes and health care experts complained that current safety requirements were not enough and interviews with more than two dozen workers in long-term care facilities portrayed a system unequipped to handle the ongoing onslaught, said the Times report in which nursing homes were being described as "death pits."

More than 36,500 residents and employees across the nation have contracted the virus, it said, adding that about one-fifth of US deaths from COVID-19 has been tied to nursing homes or other long-term care facilities.