biostudies-literatureUnknown17(4)Shen KThe COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly deadly for residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. This paper analyzes COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes during the first wave of the pandemic in the United States during the spring and early summer 2020. By combining data on facility-level COVID-19 deaths during this period with data on the neighborhoods where nursing home staff reside for a sample of eighteen states, this paper finds that staff neighborhood characteristics were a large and significant predictor of COVID-19 nursing home deaths. Even after controlling for the county where a facility is located, one standard deviation increases in average staff neighborhood (Census tract) population density, public transportation use, and non-white share were associated withPloS onee0267377https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9017897biostudies-literatureRelationship between nursing home COVID-19 outbreaks and staff neighborhood characteristics.PMC9017897Shen KfalseRelationship between nursing home COVID-19 outbreaks and staff neighborhood characteristics.The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly deadly for residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. This paper analyzes COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes during the first wave of the pandemic in the United States during the spring and early summer 2020. By combining data on facility-level COVID-19 deaths during this period with data on the neighborhoods where nursing home staff reside for a sample of eighteen states, this paper finds that staff neighborhood characteristics were a large and significant predictor of COVID-19 nursing home deaths. Even after controlling for the county where a facility is located, one standard deviation increases in average staff neighborhood (Census tract) population density, public transportation use, and non-white share were associated with2022-01-01T00:00:00Z20222025-04-19T17:37:02.079Z2025-04-19T17:37:02.079ZS-EPMC90178973543927910.1371/journal.pone.0267377