After announcing coronavirus infections at 121 nursing homes and other communal living institutions in Los Angeles County — including a home in Redondo Beach with four deaths and 38 confirmed cases — the county’s public health director advised families it would be “perfectly appropriate” to pull loved ones out of long-term facilities.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said she agreed with other experts who have issued similar advice, particularly since so many people are working from home and would be more able than usual to care for an infirm family member. She also sympathized with families who face the “horrible reality” that they cannot care for a loved one at home.

Nursing homes, with their concentrations of elderly residents with underlying health problems, are turning into ground zero in the battle against the deadly new virus.

There have been hundreds of deadly outbreaks in homes across the country, with experts warning of a death rate approaching 50% at homes where the virus gets loose because residents are so vulnerable.

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