ニューヨーク・タイムズのインスタグラム(nytimes) - 8月11日 00時26分

When Covid-19 hit, many elderly were left to die.

European nations lead the world in Covid-19 deaths per capita, but runaway coronavirus infections, medical gear shortages and government inattention are woefully familiar stories in nursing homes around the globe. Belgium’s response, however, offers a gruesome twist: Paramedics and hospitals sometimes flatly denied care to elderly people, even as hospital beds sat unused.

“They wouldn’t accept old people,” said Shirley Doyen, who runs the Christalain nursing home in Brussels. “They had space, and they didn’t want them.”

Belgium now has, by some measures, the world’s highest coronavirus death rate, in part because of nursing homes. More than 5,700 nursing-home residents have died, according to newly published data. During the peak of the crisis, from March through mid-May, residents accounted for 2 out of every 3 coronavirus deaths.

Of all the missteps by governments during the coronavirus pandemic, few have had such an immediate and devastating impact as the failure to protect nursing homes. Tens of thousands of older people have died — casualties not only of the virus, but also of more than a decade of ignored warnings that nursing homes were vulnerable.

Tap the link in our bio for a look inside the nursing homes in Belgium. Photos by @limauricio.

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