Sevpolitforum.info

Now, about a month later, at least 45 residents of the nursing home have died after falling ill with the virus, the highest known death toll at a long-term care facility in the United States, according to an analysis of case data by The New York Times.

The facility has struggled to stop the outbreak, which has killed more than a quarter of its residents and infected about 80 percent of them, in part because of what staff members described as crowded conditions and a lack of resources.

“That’s what a virus wants,” said Dr. Jim Wright, the facility’s medical director. “A number of people with multiple illnesses, living very closely. Viruses love that.”

“There’s no barrier in between them,” said Ms. Stafford-Turner, 68, a lawyer in Richmond. “Not being able to see what’s actually going on, I can only imagine what my brother is going through.”

She said she hoped to video conference soon with her brother, Fred Lee Stafford, who turns 66 on Saturday. Mr. Stafford sustained severe brain injuries when he was hit by a car as a 3-year-old, but he graduated from high school and lived at home until a few years ago, Ms. Stafford-Turner said.

“I just know my brother’s fighting for his life,” she said. “It makes you ask yourself — the disabled and the elderly, are they really getting the service that they deserve, that they need?”