Growing fears of hidden death toll at care homes
Reports that thirteen residents of a County Durham care home have died after displaying symptoms consistent with coronavirus infection have raised fears of a hidden outbreak in the UK’s expansive care home network.
The deaths in County Durham come on the heels of five reported deaths at a care home north of the border in Scotland.
According to the Scottish Sun five residents of a care home in Glasgow died after contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
These reports are concerning because the British government only counts coronavirus-related deaths in hospitals as part of the official death count.
That means coronavrius-related deaths in care homes and residential homes are not being officially collated, thus contributing to a potentially significant under-counting of the overall death toll.
The gravity of the situation comes into sharp relief after considering that as many as half of all coronavirus-related deaths in at least five European countries are occurring in care homes.
The Guardian (April 13) cites a report by academics at the London School of Economics in which it is claimed that between 42 percent and 57 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium have taken place in care homes.
According to the National Health Service (NHS), as of 2019 there were 17,000 nursing and residential care homes in England alone, housing 400,000 people, with one in seven residents aged 85 or over.
The sheer scale of the care home network in England and the rest of the UK – and the significant number of COVID-19 deaths occurring in them – indicate that the true coronavirus-related death toll in Britain is significantly higher than what the official statistics suggest.
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