Covid cases and staff shortages surge in nursing homes

COVID-19 cases in U.S. nursing homes increased sixfold from mid-July to late August, to their highest levels since last winter’s horrific peaks, a new analysis of government data by AARP

finds. It shows that cases were concentrated among the unvaccinated, with residents who were not fully vaccinated three times as likely to contract the virus as those fully vaccinated. As

cases surged, so did staffing shortages, which also hit their highest levels since winter. “This data shows that we’re certainly not finished with COVID, unfortunately,” says AARP's

Susan Reinhard, senior vice president and director of the AARP Public Policy Institute and coauthor of the analysis. “We must keep attention on our nursing homes and not let the focus

shift.” Resident deaths also jumped, tripling from about 1 in every 3,000 residents in the four weeks ending July 18 to about 1 in every 1,000 residents in the four weeks ending Aug. 22.

The analysis found that infections hit unvaccinated residents the hardest, mirroring how COVID-19 is spreading in general. Among those who were not fully vaccinated, about 1 in every 37

contracted the virus over the most recent four-week reporting period. Residents who aren’t fully vaccinated were three times as likely to contract COVID-19 as those who are fully

vaccinated. As a result, the unvaccinated in nursing homes face a similar likelihood of contracting the virus as they did in the summer of 2020, when COVID-19 vaccines were not yet

available, the analysis reported. This time, the delta variant — which is more contagious and harmful than last year’s dominant alpha variant — is more likely to be the infector. The

findings are from AARP’s latest monthly analyses of COVID-19 data reported by the nation’s approximately 15,000 nursing homes to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In

the four weeks ending Aug. 22, around 1 in every 80 residents — vaccinated and unvaccinated — tested newly positive for the virus, while around 1 worker for every 50 residents did the same.

At least 150,000 nursing home residents have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic. In long-term care defined more broadly, including assisted living and other senior care facilities,

more than 186,000 COVID-19 deaths among residents and staff have been reported, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s almost a third of the nation’s total COVID-19 fatalities.