Ohio's nursing home deaths clustered in 25% of facilities

At least 250 nursing homes in Ohio have had residents die due to COVID-19 or its combination with other health problems.

And the deaths were concentrated in a quarter of those facilities, accounting for 60% of all coronavirus fatalities in the state's nursing homes, a Cincinnati Enquirer analysis of federal data shows. Nursing homes have held the majority of the state's coronavirus deaths, Ohio records show.

The Enquirer made the analysis of federal data after Ohio officials refused to identify nursing homes where residents have died. The federal database only includes about 60% of all the 2,710 deaths at nursing homes and other congregate care facilities in the state. That's because of a loophole that didn't require nursing homes to report deaths before May 1 and because the federal data doesn't include assisted living or group care homes.

Nursing homes account for 64% of all of Ohio's coronavirus deaths, the most recent state data shows.

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