TN Data Show Elderly Hardest Hit By Virus

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Newly released data by Tennessee health officials show the elderly, particularly those in group settings, are the hardest hit in the deadly ongoing pandemic.
The data show 669 residents in nursing homes, assisted living and other group elderly settings have been diagnosed with the Covid-19 virus and 60 of them have died.
That parallels data from other states, including Massachusetts, where the elderly in group settings, such as nursing homes and assisted living account for the largest segment of pandemic victims.
In Philadelphia health officials reported that 53 percent or 373 of the Covid-19 deaths were elderly residents in long term care facilities
The Tennessee records show at one nursing home alone, the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing,162 patients were infected and 23 died.
In Massachusetts 71 residents at a nursing home for veterans in Holyoke have died.
In Tennessee a nursing home once run by the Nashville Metro government had 30 patients infected with the coronavirus, three of them died.
Another Tennessee facility in Putnam County run by the same company running the Nashville facility, Signature Healthcare, had 51 infected patients and five deaths.
In the assisted living category, Elmcroft of Lebanon, 32 patients were infected and three died.
Lifecare of Athens, according to the Tennessee data, had 93 patients diagnosed with the coronavirus and one died.
Another Lifecare facility located in suburban Seattle, Wash. was the first nursing home where the pandemic became public. Some 37 patients at Lifecare of Kirkland died and the facility is now facing some $611,325 in federal fines and penalties.
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