On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data suggesting that the number of nursing home patients and staff infected with COVID rose sharply last week, according to NBC News.
While the highly transmissible Delta variant becomes the most dominant strain in the United States, cases among nursing home residents increased from 1,478 to 2,041 from July 25 to August 1, according to the CDC.
In addition, the number of COVID deaths among nursing home residents nationwide increased from 163 to 281 last week, per the news outlet.
However, the death rate and case counts are still far lower than they were during the peak stage of the pandemic – thanks to the vaccines.
The CDC says around 82% of nursing home residents across the nation are fully vaccinated. However, the latest numbers do not provide a breakdown of how many infected patients were fully vaccinated.
Dr. Morgan Katz of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said, “What we have seen throughout the pandemic is when we see a rise in cases in the community, we are going to see it infiltrate the nursing homes. And a lot of the reason for that is that only 60% of the staff is vaccinated and there is still a chance for potential entry into the facility.”
Citing the findings of a few studies, Dr. Katz said vaccinated nursing home residents are more vulnerable than vaccinated members of the public. She said, “That’s why it’s so important that we adhere to layers of precaution.”
Nursing home advocates are increasingly concerned about unvaccinated staff infecting residents of long-term care facilities, previously reported by NBC News.
On Wednesday, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker issued a statewide mandate for all nursing homes staff to get fully vaccinated by October 10.
Prof. David Grabowski of Harvard Medical School said he expects other states to follow Massachusetts’ move. He said, “I think mandates are probably the right way to go.”
However, he warned that mandates could lead to low-paid nursing care workers leaving their jobs to find employment elsewhere, adding, “Any mandate should be coupled with an effort to improve working conditions.” The news was first published on NBC News.
