Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 1;9(4):388.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare9040388.

COVID-19 Disparities in Nursing Homes

Linda Loubert  1
Affiliations

COVID-19 Disparities in Nursing Homes

Linda Loubert. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Cases of COVID-19, the coronavirus that has spread throughout the world, affect and kill the poor, racial minorities, and the elderly disproportionately. The toll to the elders of our society is extreme and does not seem to relent over time. This work examines the statistics of the cases and deaths at the early onset of the disease in nursing homes. It reveals the age disparities seen in the COVID-19 pandemic by using data from nursing homes across the states, and particularly in Maryland, as a source to illustrate the effect on the elderly living in group-like settings. It presents an overview of the disease in the early months as it ravaged across the states, indicating that the older generation was a lot more at risk than the general population. It is necessary to illustrate these disparities even as the numbers of infections and deaths are not static.

Keywords: COVID-19 cases and deaths; disparities; nursing homes; the elderly.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents across the United States.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of White population in nursing homes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Counties in Maryland showing nursing home COVID-19 percentage of cases and deaths.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Map showing a comparison of the average number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes to the average number of COVID-19 deaths in each respective state.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Map showing COVID-19 deaths in Maryland by county.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Jorden M.A., Rudman S.L., Villarino E., Hoferka S., Patel M.T., Bemis K., Simmons C.R., Jespersen M., Johnson J.I., Mytty E., et al. Evidence for Limited Early Spread of COVID-19 Within the United States, January–February 2020. MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 2020;69:680–684. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6922e1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Applegate W.B., Ouslander J.G. COVID-19 Presents High Risk to Older Persons. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 2020;68:681. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16426. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnett M.L., Grabowski D.C. Nursing Homes Are Ground Zero for COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Health Forum. 2020;1:e200369. doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2020.0369. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kamp J., Mathews A.W. Coronavirus Outbreaks Spreading in Nursing Homes. 2020 Mar 19. [(accessed on 20 May 2020)]; Available online: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-outbreaks-spreading-in-nursing-....
    1. Cenziper D., Whoriskey P., Jacobs J. More than 25,000 Nursing Home Residents and 400 Staff Have Died during the Pandemic, Federal Report Shows. The Washington Post; Washington, DC, USA: 2020.

LinkOut - more resources