The number of nursing home deaths due to coronavirus in the United States has surpassed 5,500, doubling since last week, reports NBC News.
In New York state, for example, more than 2% of nursing home residents have died of coronavirus. Deaths at state nursing homes have tripled since last week from 1,330 to 3,060, according to a New York health spokesperson.
The overall death toll comes from 29 state health department databases, and includes data from nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care facilities.
Some family members of nursing home residents think the facility managers aren't alerting them when a coronavirus outbreak occurs. Federal regulations only require nursing homes to inform the family of an infected resident.
The federal government only requires that nursing homes inform the family members of an infected resident, not other families.
But Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, thinks that should change.
“Notify all residents, families and staff when the facility has its first confirmed COVID-19 case,” Parkinson told NBC News in a statement.
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