Five adults living in facilities that are under the oversight of the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities have died from COVID-19.
Two of the individuals lived in the same home, where a total of four persons who lived there and five staff tested positive for the virus.
Two others lived in facilities that also had more than one positive case.
All five people – three women and two men ranging in age from 59 to 73 – had been transferred to hospitals at the time of their deaths.
“We know that people with disabilities are at a higher risk of experiencing complications up to death because of COVID-19 than the general population, which is why DIDD has taken steps to limit exposure of persons supported,” said Cara Kumari, an agency spokesperson.