Up to one in 17 UK care home residents have died in five weeks since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak

29 April

Nicu Calcea, data journalist, New Statesman

As many as one in 17 UK care home residents may have died during just five week since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.

New data released yesterday show that the number of care home deaths has gone beyond “alarming” and is proving to become a national scandal.

That was even before today’s figures from Public Health England, showing that 29.1% of all care homes in England had seen an outbreak of Covid-19 by the end of April.

We need to be clear on what we do – and don’t – know. While there are a number of different official and semi-official counts of how many people have lost their lives because of Covid-19, none is perfect – or perfectly up-to-date.

Counting Covid-19 is a difficult task. It’s even more difficult when it happens in care homes – where many people are already frail and vulnerable, and many have a number of serious existing medical conditions.

Read the full article on New Statesman