//Why the coronavirus has taken so many lives in US nursing homes

Why the coronavirus has taken so many lives in US nursing homes

Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images

Three systemic failures that explain the coronavirus’s terrible toll in US nursing homes.

The novel coronavirus has taken an unimaginable toll in America’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities. At least 25,000 residents and 400 staff members have died in the pandemic, according to new federal estimates.

To some degree, that toll simply reflects the sad realities of this crisis. Covid-19 is a disease that is particularly dangerous for the kinds of older and sicker people who live in nursing homes. About 80 percent of the deaths in the US — the latest count is more than 106,000, according to Johns Hopkins — have been people age 65 or older, per the CDC’s breakdowns. Preexisting conditions, particularly heart problems, also increase a person’s chances of developing a serious case or dying of the disease.

But the natural properties of