40% of California COVID deaths are from care homes

SACRAMENTO — Residents of long-term care homes in California make up nearly 40% of the COVID19 deaths in the state, new public health data shows, making skilled nursing and assisted living facilities by far the deadliest hotspots in the coronavirus pandemic.

At least 578 nursing home residents in California have died of complications caused by the new coronavirus, according to state health department data published

Tuesday, approximately one-third of all confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the state.

Tuesday was the first time California officials had released any numbers about deaths at nursing homes from COVID-19. The numbers could be higher because the current ones only include those “known by the facility” and might not include deaths that occurred after a resident was transferred to a hospital or private home.

By Friday, at least 144 residents in California assisted living facilities, which cater to the elderly but do not provide the same level of medical care as nursing homes, had died of COVID-19 complications, according to the most recent report from the California Department of Social Services.

Fewer than 11 employees at nursing homes have also died, according to the data. The state did not provide a precise number of employee deaths, saying only that the number was less than 11. The state also is not yet providing the number of fatalities linked to specific facilities.

To date, slightly more than 1,800

Californians have died from COVID-19. The dramatic death numbers for long-term care facilities puts California’s eldercare facilities alongside other large states and Western Europe as the deadliest places to live.

Despite state-at-home orders across the country, unofficial tallies indicate more than 6,700 skilled nursing home residents have died from the virus nationwide. The World Health Organization says up to half of all coronavirus deaths in Europe are in long-term care facilities.