COVID-19 Still Killing 800 a Month in Nursing Homes

Nursing home deaths from COVID-19 remain sharply down from their winter peaks, but the declines have now plateaued and more than 800 residents and staff members each month continue to die from the virus, according to an exclusive new analysis of federal data by AARP.  The analysis did not comment upon and likely did not factor recent data suggesting that seniors in nursing homes may have lower immune response from the vaccines. 

There was little change in the national rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths in nursing homes from mid-March to mid-May, the analysis shows, even as rates in the wider community continued dropping. More than 10,000 residents and staff members are becoming newly infected each month.

Experts say that limited vaccine uptake among long-term care workers, worker shortages and the recent relaxation of nursing home restrictions might be causing the plateau, although more data and analysis are required.

Since the pandemic hit, COVID-19 has killed more than 184,000 residents and staff of long-term care, which includes nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other residential settings. Those deaths constitute almost a third of America's entire COVID-19 death toll, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In nursing homes, the infection and death rates peaked last winter, when close to 20,000 residents and staff were reported dead from COVID-19 in just four weeks from mid-December to mid-January; 1 in every 51 residents died from the virus.

Then, cases and deaths started to plummet, dropping more than 90 percent by mid-March, with the arrival of vaccines, tougher restrictions from governments, and high levels of natural immunity from months of high infection rates. Though the situation has improved, nursing home advocates say current COVID-19 rates in nursing homes shouldn't be accepted as the new normal.

The federal government asked the country's 15,000-plus nursing homes to loosen visitation restrictions in March. Citing widespread vaccinations of residents, drops in COVID-19 infections among residents and staff, and the tolls of separation and isolation on residents and their families, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said facilities should allow indoor visits “regardless of vaccination status of the resident or the visitor."

The resulting uptick in visitors could, in part, be contributing to the halt in COVID-19 declines, according to Jennifer Schrack, an associate professor in the epidemiology of aging at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

"Every visitor is another potential exposure, particularly those who are not vaccinated,” she says. “They have to really consider carefully if they're going to visit their loved one, and if they do, they should wear [personal protective equipment] and be very cautious, even if their loved one is vaccinated. … Low risk doesn't mean no risk.”

Unvaccinated staff, which could represent nearly half of the nursing home and assisting living workforce, may be an even bigger factor.

Source: Emily Paulin, AARP, June 10, 2021 COVID-19 Still Killing 800 a Month in Nursing Homes, AARP Analysis Shows,