Nursing Homes Bear The Brunt As Cases Surge Across The Country

This month, U.S. nursing homes saw a record-breaking week of COVID-19 cases. Research shows community spread is the greatest predictor of rising cases.

Nursing Homes Bear The Brunt As Cases Surge Across The Country
Margaret Choinacki, center, 87, who has no other family members left because her husband and daughter have died, waves goodbye after a drive-by visit by her friend Frances Reaves, as resident care coordinator Anggy Volmar, right, wheels her back inside, Friday, July 17, 2020, at Miami Jewish Health in Miami. Wilfredo Lee / AP Photo
Nursing Homes Bear The Brunt As Cases Surge Across The Country
Margaret Choinacki, center, 87, who has no other family members left because her husband and daughter have died, waves goodbye after a drive-by visit by her friend Frances Reaves, as resident care coordinator Anggy Volmar, right, wheels her back inside, Friday, July 17, 2020, at Miami Jewish Health in Miami. Wilfredo Lee / AP Photo

Nursing Homes Bear The Brunt As Cases Surge Across The Country

This month, U.S. nursing homes saw a record-breaking week of COVID-19 cases. Research shows community spread is the greatest predictor of rising cases.

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

In the U.S., almost half of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in nursing homes are in the Midwest.

Reset looks at what’s driving COVID-19 cases in nursing homes across the country, in Cook County and around Illinois.

GUESTS: Rebecca Gorges, postdoctoral fellow, University of Chicago’s department of public health sciences

Pat Comstock, COVID-19 response director, Health Care Council of Illinois

Demian Christiansen, director of communicable disease prevention and control, Cook County Department of Public Health

Mabel Frías, assistant director of communicable disease prevention and control, Cook County Department of Public Health