As the confirmed U.S. death toll
from the new coronavirus grew to more than 71,000, new data showed the
pandemic’s devastating impact on nursing homes.
New York state has recorded at
least 4,813 confirmed and presumed deaths related to the coronavirus at nursing
homes and adult-care facilities, including 71 confirmed fatalities at one
facility, according to state data released Monday night.
The number has grown quickly. An
April 22 tally showed 3,505 deaths in the facilities statewide. The figures
included confirmed cases and probable cases from some nursing homes.
Globally, the number of deaths
rose past 254,000, with 3.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases, according to
data from Johns Hopkins University. Experts caution that reported infection and
death tolls world-wide underestimate the extent of the pandemic.
In the U.S., 2,100 people were
reported dead between 8 p.m. Monday and the same time Tuesday, according to a
Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data, bringing the nation’s
official death toll to 71,022. It was the largest number of daily deaths
reported in nearly a week.
In New York, the state had
previously given data on nursing-home deaths it acknowledged were inconsistent.
Some nursing homes reported deaths of people presumed to have the virus as well
as confirmed cases; others didn’t. The new numbers reflect the state’s effort
to have more comprehensive reporting that includes both confirmed and presumed
cases.
Nursing homes have faced scrutiny
for problems containing the spread of the virus. Those who run the facilities
say health authorities have put a higher priority on helping hospitals get
staff and with personal-protective equipment.
State officials say they have
sent hundreds of thousands of pieces of protective equipment to nursing homes.
Advocates for nursing-home
residents, however, have said many facilities were ill-prepared for the
pandemic, and many are chronically understaffed. Experts say elderly residents
of facilities are particularly vulnerable due to their age and the congregate
nature of the living arrangements.
In New Jersey, there have been
4,151 fatalities at long-term care facilities. Health officials are ramping up
testing inside nursing homes to help curb the spread of the Covid-19, the
respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.
Officials tested nearly 4,000
residents and health workers at 16 long-term care facilities in the southern
part of the state. Nearly one in four residents and 10% of staff tested
positive, Judith Persichilli, commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of
Health, said at a press conference Tuesday.
New Jersey Attorney General
Gurbir Grewal said Tuesday his office was investigating the nursing-home
industry’s response to Covid-19.
“We are not alleging any
misconduct by any particular facility or any entity or any individual” as of
today, Mr. Grewal said at the press conference. “We are gathering the facts. If
the facts justify criminal charges, we’ll bring criminal charges. If those
facts justify civil charges or would invoke civil liability, then that’s the
route we’ll go.”
While the situation in the
nation’s nursing homes remains fraught, there were signs of hope emerging from
New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the daily number of deaths and new
hospitalizations from the infectious disease continued to decline early this
week, signaling progress for the hard-hit state where 19,645 people have died.
But the Democratic governor
cautioned that reopening too quickly could infect and kill more residents. With
statewide stay-at-home rules set to expire in mid-May, the governor has
outlined a phases approach that starts with construction and manufacturing, and
progresses to the opening of schools and movie theaters.
“There’s a cost of staying
closed,” Mr. Cuomo said. “There’s also a cost of reopening quickly. That is the
hard truth that we are all dealing with.”
“A human life is priceless.
Period,” he added. “Our reopening plan doesn’t have a trade-off.”
States including Missouri,
Georgia and Oklahoma have taken larger steps in reopening businesses in the
past week. Florida started reopening businesses on Monday. In Arizona, stores
may reopen by the end of the week, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said, while groups
of up to 20 people would be permitted to gather outdoors in Mississippi, the
GOP governor there said.
Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B.
Pritzker outlined a phased reopening plan Tuesday. It allows some businesses in
parts of the state to reopen with certain restrictions in place. The state
reported 176 deaths from the virus, the highest number of reported deaths from
the virus over a 24-hour period thus far.
“Until we have a vaccine or an
effective treatment or enough widespread immunity that new cases fail to
materialize, the option of returning to normalcy doesn’t exist,” he said. “That
means we have to figure out how to live with Covid-19 until it can be
vanquished.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a
Republican, accelerated his state’s opening Tuesday with an announcement that
salons and gyms would be able to resume operations within the next two weeks.
Hair, nail and tanning salons will be allowed to open Friday, with a limit of
one customer per stylist. Gyms will be allowed to open May 18, at 25% capacity.
The reopening plans came as
projections show deaths in the U.S. could nearly double in the coming months.
Deaths in the U.S. could approach 135,000 by early August, according to the
University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which
produces a forecast sometimes cited by the White House. The model is one of
several that researchers have developed to chart the potential path of the
disease, with some predicting more dire scenarios than others.
Deborah Birx, the White House’s
coronavirus response coordinator, took issue Tuesday with the death projection,
saying she didn’t think the group fully took into account the mitigation
measures states are putting in place.
Vice President Mike Pence told
reporters Tuesday the administration was talking about phasing out the White
House coronavirus task force and shifting response efforts to individual
departments and agencies, possibly by early June. The task force’s physicians
would continue to advise President Trump on his handling of the pandemic,
administration officials said.
Researchers, meanwhile, have
begun testing an experimental coronavirus vaccine by Pfizer Inc. and partner
BioNTech SE, injecting healthy volunteers with the first of four vaccine
candidates from the companies.
Global stocks rose Tuesday,
lifted by optimism about the easing of restrictions in pockets of the U.S. and
other parts of the world. But the toll of sustained shutdowns continued to
mount. Amid a decline of global travel during the pandemic, Airbnb Inc. is
cutting 1,900 employees, or 25% of its workforce.
The U.K. surpassed Italy to
record the world’s second-highest death toll, although discrepancies in the way
governments record Covid-19 fatalities make cross-country comparisons
difficult.
The country’s death toll stood at
29,427 Tuesday, according to a daily count released by the government that
tracks deaths where coronavirus infection has been confirmed. Official
statistics published earlier Tuesday that include deaths where a physician
suspected Covid-19 was a factor point to an even greater number of deaths.
Italy’s toll Tuesday stood at 29,315.
In mainland China, where the
virus first emerged, officials reported just one new case on Monday, which
officials said was imported from outside the country. China reported no new
deaths as of midday Tuesday.
Iran reported a rise in
coronavirus infections for a second day in a row, following weeks of slowing
contagion. Singapore, which has struggled to contain outbreaks at tightly
packed immigrant worker dormitories, a top health official said the country had
a long way to go to contain the virus.
Concerns grew about the impact of
the virus on some nations in Latin America such as Brazil, which lack the
institutions and infrastructure to carry out programs like widespread testing,
let alone the hospitals to care for surges in extremely ill patients. Brazil’s
confirmed infections have recently risen by about 5,000 a day and its known
death toll, 7,288, now exceeds China’s. But, some researchers say, there is so
little testing that the total may be far higher. One university study estimated
Brazil may have more cases than the U.S.
Write to Katie Honan at
Katie.Honan@wsj.com, Leslie Brody at leslie.brody@wsj.com and Jennifer Calfas
at Jennifer.Calfas@wsj.com.
Click
here for the original article.