Feds: Nursing Home Staff Must Get COVID Tests

Nursing home staff will have to be tested regularly for COVID-19, and facilities that fail to do so will face fines, the Trump administration said Tuesday.

Even though they account for less than 1% of the nation’s population, long-term care facilities account for 42% of COVID-19 deaths in the United States, the Associated Press reported.

There have been more than 70,000 deaths in U.S. nursing homes, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

It’s been months since the White House first urged governors to test all nursing home residents and staff, the AP reported.