In a significant policy change, U.S. nursing homes will now be required to report coronavirus cases directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as to patients and their families. Thousands of elderly Americans are believed to have died of coronavirus in care homes without their deaths formally being tracked by the CDC. The new directive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the new measures “will support CDC’s efforts to have surveillance around the country and to support efforts around contact tracing” in communities where the virus is spreading in long-term care facilities.