Suzy Khimm

The lockdowns and visitor restrictions meant to protect nursing home residents from the coronavirus can also threaten their lives.

"I wouldn’t want this to happen to anybody. But nobody is above reproach, above the law, or above the coronavirus,” a New Jersey resident said.

The pandemic’s devastating effect on older Americans could make it harder for President Trump to win re-election, according to new polling and interviews.

Researchers say the absence of a comprehensive accounting is hampering efforts to identify which safety practices can best protect students and teachers.

Visas for farmworkers have surged under Trump. But the program has subjected some workers to horrific abuse.

The rising numbers alarm nursing home advocates and family members who worry about the safety of vulnerable residents.

Oklahoma allowed nursing homes to reopen to visitors this week, raising alarms among some long-term care leaders and advocates.

New figures capture only a part of the coronavirus deaths linked to nursing homes. The government isn't making facilities report data from before May.

“Direct care workers are already living paycheck to paycheck," a researcher said. "Now they are being asked to put their lives on the line for $13 an hour.”

Advocates and industry executives say universal testing isn't feasible in many states and the federal government isn't providing the money or means to do it.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's announcement follows criticism of an earlier policy mandating that nursing homes admit residents regardless of their COVID-19 status.

The lag in data collection is just one of a number of bottlenecks in the effort to slow the virus' deadly spread in nursing homes across the U.S.

“It’s reckless and careless,” said the granddaughter of a 96-year-old man whose family withdrew him from a Long Island nursing home.

“We fear that there may be hundreds if not thousands more COVID-19 cases that have gone unreported,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., wrote in a letter.

By far the largest increase was in New York state, where the death count rose from 1,330 last week to 3,060 as of Wednesday.

The numbers are likely a significant undercount, given the limited access to testing and other constraints, state officials and public health experts say.

Coronavirus cases are increasing so rapidly that one New York nursing home CEO is advising families to take their loved ones home if possible.

Studies have shown that home hospitalization can produce better health outcomes, fewer hospital readmissions and a lower mortality rate.

“Our hospital has never, ever, ever seen anything like this,” one doctor said.

"This could have a very serious impact on the flow of fresh fruits and vegetables to American stores," the head of a farmers group said.

"These are conversations that no one wants to have," a Maryland doctor said. "But we need to have these conversations just in case."

Trump’s own advisers acknowledged to NBC News that the failure to focus on widespread testing was a major misstep.

"I could have tested over 1,000 patients by now instead of checking boxes," said the director of a North Carolina lab.

"All these preventive things that are being done, like washing your hands — they can't do any of those," said one advocate.

“These are frail, medically compromised people,” said an attorney at the nonprofit Center for Medicare Advocacy, who opposes the change.