The coronavirus has likely already killed more than 5 percent of the state’s nursing-home population, according to the latest figures from New York’s Health Department.
As of the start of Sunday, there were 2,598 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the facilities statewide, the DOH said. There also were 2,646 fatal presumed coronavirus cases in New York nursing homes, in which the deceased weren’t officially tested but displayed telltale symptoms of the contagion.
Both figures total 5,244 deaths, or nearly 5.2 percent of the state’s nursing-home population of 101,518.
And that percentage doesn’t even include the nursing-home residents who were transferred to other facilities, such as hospitals, and died from COVID-19.
Cuomo noted Sunday that 12 percent of the state’s confirmed virus fatalities occurred in nursing homes, with 33 other states having higher rates of nursing-home death — though that does not count suspected cases. He insisted New York’s position was a feat, given how vulnerable the population is to the pandemic.
“Whatever we’re doing has worked,” he said.