Centering on Coronavirus Podcast: The Threat To Nursing Homes

Although there is so much we still do not know about COVID-19, public health officials and doctors were sharing the same urgent message from the beginning of the outbreak in early 2020. The older you are, the more likely you are to die if you contract the disease. And yet, somehow, America allowed its nursing homes to become the epicenter of the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the world. So far, over 40% of those who have died in the U.S. from COVID-19 have been residents or workers in nursing homes or long-term care facilities. On this episode of Centering on Coronavirus, Policy Analyst Aleksandra Srdanovic interviews Gregg Girvan, a Health Care Policy Expert at the FREOPP, on how the high death toll amongst nursing home residents has profound implications for the way we’ve managed the coronavirus pandemic. For more insights on the impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes, you can read The New Center's issue brief "COVID-19 in Nursing Homes: How Could We Let This Happen?" at newcenter.org