• Francesco Ventura, Andrea Molinelli, and Rosario Barranco.
• Department of Legal and Forensic Medicine, University of Genova, via De' Toni 12, 16132, Genova, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.ventura@unige.it.
• J Forensic Leg Med. 2021 May 1; 80: 102179.

AbstractThe whole population is susceptible to infection but elderly people with previous diseases are at greater risk. All these epidemiological data show that older age represents an important risk factor for infection and especially for mortality. In recent weeks an increase in mortality among the elderly has been observed in many Italian residential care homes. In these accommodations a worrying spread of COVID-19 cases has been ascertained. According to the ISS report, 7.4% of the total deaths in care homes for elderly involved patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 33.8% involved patients with flu-like symptoms. Herein, we discuss the dangerous spread of COVID-19 in residential care homes for elderly. In addition, we present a case of an elderly person admitted to a residential care home, whose COVID-19 diagnosis was performed only after death.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

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