Public health officials are releasing the statistics on nursing home deaths during the coronavirus pandemic, but, at the same time, are cautioning that the information may be far from complete. One nursing home official said the problem is there are variances in how states report and attribute deaths.

Whatever the eventual statistics, The Advocate reported that the federal information hammers home what has been known for some time: The coronavirus has decimated the country’s nursing homes, despite restrictions on visitors and resident interactions that began in mid-March and were extremely strict in some cases.

There have been at least 95,000 cases and more than 31,000 deaths in nursing homes from the virus. However, the numbers may be higher because not every one of the country’s 15,000-plus nursing homes reported data to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Those deaths represent about 28 percent of all U.S. deaths from COVID-19. The deaths are higher in Louisiana nursing homes, registering 43 percent during the latest report from the state Department of Health.

The newspaper said the reasons for the disparity between the national and state percentages isn’t immediately clear. However, it said Louisiana steers an abnormally large share of its health care money into nursing homes rather than into home or community-based care.

Many elderly citizens who need care find themselves with no choice but a nursing home. And the Advocate said experts say the quality of Louisiana’s nursing homes is generally low.

The CDC turns its data over to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that oversees nursing homes. CMS said the totals were self-reported by nursing homes and were inconsistent.

State figures show there were 1,152 deaths in nursing homes of the state’s 2,690 total coronavirus deaths. It also reported there were 4,739 confirmed coronavirus cases in nursing homes. CMS reported 920 Louisiana nursing home deaths and 3,300 cases.

Brian Lee of Families for Better Care, an advocacy group, praised CMS for finally releasing the information, but said it is “fraught with discrepancies.” He added, “A lot of what has been published is wildly erratic. Take it with a grain of salt.”

Unfortunately, more than 1,700 of the 15,413 U.S. nursing homes didn’t report data to CMS. The homes could face fines for not reporting, as they should be. It isn’t a difficult requirement.

Federal and state health officials need to insist on complete and detailed reports from all nursing homes. Shame on them if they don’t ensure there won’t be a repeat of the failures that have been uncovered during the current pandemic.