COVID-19 deaths in US' Ohio state nursing homes continue alarming rise

Columbus (US), May 9 (AP) The number of people dying from the coronavirus in Ohio's nursing homes has continued to increase at an alarming pace.

Close to 500 residents of long-term care centers have died of COVID-19 in the past three weeks, according to data released by the state this week. That's nearly double the total reported for the previous two weeks.

The increase in deaths could be attributed to a significant jump or a backlog of cases being added over the past week, said Melanie Amato, a spokeswoman for the state health department.

Since mid-April, more than 4,300 nursing home residents and staff members have tested positive for the virus.

The numbers don't tell the entire story of how the virus has devastated nursing homes during the pandemic because the Ohio Department of Health has only released the totals for just the past three weeks.

Before that, the state didn't require local health departments to report nursing home deaths linked to the virus. (AP) INDIND