The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic has affected long-term care facilities and nursing homes around the world. Thousands of residents of these facilities, who are in high-risk groups, have died from the disease. As of mid-April 2020, nearly half of Canada’s COVID-19 deaths were residents of long-term care facilities. Facilities are regulated at the provincial level, which means that standards are inconsistent regarding staff-to-resident ratios, as is minimal training. In British Columbia, the number of cases in long-term care facilities jumped from 9 to 235, including 143 residents and 92 staff. In Ontario, an outbreak began on March 18 at Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon, and as of April 6, 29 of its 65 residents had died from COVID-19. On April 6, the City of Toronto discovered that a large shipment of Chinese-made masks delivered to long-term care facilities were defective. In Quebec, a team of health care professionals inspecting the Residence Herron after a resident died of COVID-19 found the facility largely deserted by staff. Living conditions inside were akin to a “concentration camp,” officials said. About a third of reported COVID-19 deaths have been among residents — more than 3,000 — leaving the facilities short on body bags. More than 2,300 homes have reported at least one case. Nursing home residents are being isolated in their rooms to slow the spread of the disease, while hospitals are reluctant to admit patients with little chance of recovery. On March 18, the first case was identified at the Hans-Lege retirement home in Wolfsburg. As of March 31, at least 17 people had died from COVID-19 at the facility. On April 2, Robert Koch of the institute in Germany confirmed that out of 1,000 Germans who have died, 87% were older than 70. Of these, more than 50 were residents of nursing homes in Bavaria, Cologne and Wolfsburg. By April 9, 29 were residents of a nursing home in Wolfsburg. As of April 9, 3,859 people had died in nursing homes run by the RSA since February 1, 133 of whom had tested positive and 1,310 had symptoms consistent with coronavirus. Prosecutors are investigating a nursing home in Milan where 27 people died of suspected coronavirus in the first week of April. Many nursing homes in Spain are understaffed because they are for-profit businesses and elderly Spaniards cannot necessarily afford adequate care. In some nursing homes, elderly victims were found abandoned in their beds by Spanish soldiers, prompting an emergency response. Defense Minister Margarita Robles said anyone found guilty of neglecting them would be prosecuted. By March 23, five nursing homes in the Madrid region had reported cases of the virus. More than 65% of deaths were in those aged 80 or over, compared with 50% in Italy and just 15% in China. By 3 April, at least 3,500 Spaniards had died in nursing homes, with another 6,500 infected there. Thousands of nursing home workers are also infected. Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford wrote an editorial about nursing homes in general. In relation to Covid, she suggested that the situation was a “scandal” that future generations would question. She also pointed to the working conditions of care assistants, including zero-hour contracts and homes that urged sick staff to attend anyway. To prevent Covid-19 spreading to Liverpool’s Beachside home, the assistants moved there from April 2020. Nearby Oak Spring had 14 deaths in a fortnight, up to mid-April. Only two of the dead had been tested, both positive for Covid-19. As of early April, the facility was operating with a quarter of its normal staff, after staff or their families developed symptoms and were self-isolating. Two-thirds of the remaining residents had symptoms. Liverpool MP Paula Parker has criticized the lack of personal protective equipment in long-term care facilities, compared with NHS workers. According to an Associated Press tally, more than 2,755 confirmed deaths have been reported in long-term care facilities, though the actual number of deaths is likely much higher because many victims were never tested for the virus. In addition to the steps taken by individual facilities, the federal government has banned visitors, ended group activities and instituted mandatory testing for workers. However, that is not necessarily effective in preventing infection. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on April 10 that some healthy residents in nursing homes would be transferred to a U.S. Navy hospital ship called the USNS Mercy. The ship had previously been expected to take patients from Southern California hospitals, freeing up space there for COVID-19 patients. Six hundred nurses trained in infectious disease control will be sent to nursing homes and senior care facilities to contain the outbreak. Some facilities have reorganized residents into safe buildings for those with and without the virus. Minnesota held a legislative hearing on April 7 on the senior care industry, after weeks of closures. The CEO of one facility noted that her residents were showing signs of depression and anxiety from confinement. On April 11, 2020, The New York Times reported that there had been nearly 2,000 deaths of nursing home residents in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. As of April 10, there were 4,630 positive cases in New York’s 613 licensed nursing homes. On April 15, 2020, it was reported that a nursing home in Andover, New Jersey, was storing the bodies of 17 residents in a small morgue. By mid-April 2020, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was considering a request to grant nursing homes “sovereign immunity” from negligence lawsuits during the pandemic. The petition was filed by a trade group representing nearly 700 nursing homes in the state. The Life Care Center facility in Kirkland, Washington, was the site of a major COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. On February 19, 2020, there were 120 residents and 180 staff members there. By March 18, 2020, 101 residents had been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 34 had died. On April 2, 2020, Life Care Center was fined $611,000 for deficiencies in its response to the outbreak, and has until September 16, 2020, to correct the deficiencies or face termination of its Medicare/Medicaid participation.