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Deaths hit 45 at Virginia care home called 'virus's dream'

Posted at 1:29 PM, Apr 14, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-14 13:29:16-04

RICHMOND, Va. - Soon after the first coronavirus case hit the Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, many of the staffers quit and a doctor just stopped making his rounds.

Now that deaths have risen to 45, the lone doctor left to help dozens more infected patients calls the suburban Richmond facility a “virus’s dream,” poor, chronically understaffed, with most of its residents on Medicaid funding to care for ailments from a lifetime of poverty.

Such places are particularly vulnerable in COVID-19 outbreaks at the nation’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities that have so far claimed more than 4,000 lives.

Related:
Henrico nursing home COVID-19 outbreak: 37 positive, 8 dead