More than a year after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in a U.S. nursing home, the catastrophic toll of the virus on the nation’s elderly continues to come into focus. A New York Times analysis found nursing homes accounted for 4 percent of all U.S. cases, but 33 percent of all COVID-related deaths. And while blame has been put on individual nursing homes and regulators for lax protective measures, a Social Explorer analysis finds deaths in nursing homes have accounted for more than half of all COVID-related deaths in five of the 10 states with the highest percentage of nursing home residents.

In North Dakota, 59 percent of COVID-related deaths occurred in nursing homes; the state has the highest percentage of nursing home residents (0.9 percent) in the nation. Nursing home deaths accounted for 62 percent of COVID deaths in Rhode Island, where 0.8 percent of residents live in nursing homes. Other states with high percentages of nursing home residents suffered disproportionately, including Pennsylvania (0.7 percent nursing home residents, 51 percent of all deaths) and Maine (0.7 percent, 50 percent). To see the percentage of nursing home residents in your state, use Social Explorer’s flexible, award-winning maps.

Percentage of Nursing Home Residents, 2019. Click here to explore further.

Author: Frank Bass