Nursing home carnage

At least, a nationwide tally of the nursing homes' share of COVID-19 deaths.  Powerline has been reporting for weeks that over 80% of the virus's deadly toll in Minnesota occurs in nursing homes, and that the median age of decedents has been steady for some time at about 82 years.  That percentage turns out to be high; most states are hovering more around the 50% mark.  I've read that the nationwide median age is in the high 70s, though information on that score is scarce.

The column for daily deaths is heartening, at least for some states, such as Texas, which seem to have cracked the code for opening the economy while concentrating protection on the most vulnerable elderly.  Nursing homes in the cluster of states near New York are still suffering badly.

Scrolling down the page at that same site will bring you to an economic report card for the 50 states, which demands a balance between the challenge of the local death rate and the speed of re-opening.  New York gets a "C," which might seem generous considering how locked down it remains, but it gets credit for having such a severe outbreak to contend with.  Texas gets a "B," despite its fairly benign lockdown and rapid re-opening, because its outbreak has not been severe enough to warrant more stringent measures.

4 comments:

Texan99 said...

Issues & Insight on related concerns and strategies: https://issuesinsights.com/2020/05/13/cuomos-covid-19-panic-condemned-thousands-of-vulnerable-seniors-to-death/

Anonymous said...

We're having a local packing-plant related spike up here. It's interesting how the local media are tap-dancing around the problems of culture and economics. (Social distancing is difficult when 6-10 people live in a two bedroom apartment.)

LittleRed1

Christopher B said...

I have joked that during my childhood in Iowa we called social distancing 'winter'. I think the preponderance of LTC deaths in Minnesota is due to a combination of their lockdown and the late arrival of spring (they were still having significant snow in April). I've noticed an uptrend in fatalities in Illinois which I think is probably due to the weather getting nice enough to encourage people to get out but without enough sun to attenuate the virus. I suspect Minnesota will see something like that in a couple of weeks.

J Melcher said...

Anyone seen any data comparing deaths per exposures among those in prison to those in nursing homes?