2020, Judith Chevalier, "Staff Working in Multiple Nursing Homes Contributed to the Pandemic Spread"

Some nursing home staff members are employed at multiple facilities, and their movements between locations could contribute to the spread of COVID-19. Research Associate Judy Chevalier of Yale University and her collaborators Keith Chen and Elisa Long, studying geolocation data from cellphones, estimate that in the six weeks following the nationwide ban on visitors to nursing homes, seven percent of those who spent time on the premises of one facility also spent time at another one. They find that fatalities from COVID-19 were substantially higher in facilities that were more connected to others through overlapping staff. The results are presented in a working paper (27608) and summarized in a short video above.