HARTFORD, CT – Nearly 70% of all the COVID-19 related deaths in Connecticut are tied to nursing homes and assisted living facilities, according to the most recent state data.
The data released Friday showed that there were coronavirus-positive patients at 165 of the 215 nursing homes in the state. Nursing home residents have accounted for 60% of the coronavirus-associated deaths in Connecticut, or 2,190 of the total 3,637.
• COVID-19 Nursing home data released Friday, May 22
There also were 306 deaths – or 8.41% – associated with assisted living facilities.
The number of deaths increased by 263 over the past week, but held steady at some of the hardest-hit nursing homes. For instance, there have been 43 deaths at Kimberly Hall North in Windsor – the same number that was reported last week. The number of deaths at Abbott Terrace Health Center in Waterbury climbed by two to 43. There have been 57 deaths at Riverside Health & Rehabilitation Center in East Hartford, an increase of only three since last week.
There have been no deaths at Sharon Health Care Center, which is one of the four COVID recovery facilities.
The highest number of infections is at Arden House in Hamden which has 170 patients with the virus.
The number of COVID positive patients jumped by 928 nursing home patients this week. That’s at the same time as the state has begun testing all nursing home patients for the virus. It also comes at the time when federal and state officials are inspecting the nursing homes.
Not all nursing homes are testing their staff yet, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services came out with that recommendation last week.
The number of overall hospitalizations in Connecticut went down by 76 Friday to 740 and the number of positive cases jumped by 432 to 39,640.
Max Reiss, a spokesman for Gov. Ned Lamont, said the data shows that overall the state’s effort from the top down has proven successful. As far as the nursing home data is concerned, “the results are what we were hoping for, but we’ve also had to deal with tragic losses of life at these facilities,” and it’s something the administration is not losing sight of as it continues to battle the virus.