Long-Term Care Facilities as a Risk Factor for Death Due to COVID-19

TL;DR

This study finds that long-term care facilities significantly increase the risk of death from COVID-19, independent of population density and age demographics.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that long-term care living arrangements are a significant risk factor for COVID-19 mortality, controlling for other variables.

Findings

Positive association between long-term care beds per capita and COVID-19 death rates

Supports the hypothesis that care facility structure contributes to higher mortality

Controls for population density and age to isolate the effect of care facilities

Abstract

A large percentage of the deaths from COVID-19 occur among residents of long-term care facilities. There are two possible reasons for this phenomenon. First, the structural features of such settings may lead to death. Alternatively, it is possible that individuals in these facilities are in poorer health than those living elsewhere, and that these individuals would have died even if they had not been in these facilities. Our findings show that, controlling for the population density and the percentage of older adults in the population, there is a significant positive association between the number of long-term care beds per capita and COVID-19 mortality rates. This finding provides support for the claim that long-term care living arrangements (of older people) are a significant risk factor for dying from COVID-19.