Increasing vaccination rates among staff members and residents at many long-term care facilities led to a bit of a break from COVID-19 in June, according to Kaiser Family Foundation analysis released yesterday.
In most states, COVID-19 cases and deaths in long-term care settings have declined in recent months, with 14 states reporting zero or close to zero weekly long-term care COVID deaths per 100,000 state residents in June, Kaiser said.
The data include nursing homes, assisted living communities and other long-term congregate care facilities.
COVID infections were reported at an all-time low in April. The foundation credits high vaccination rates among staff and residents this spring for the dip in numbers.
“Overall, the average weekly number of COVID-19 [long-term care facility] deaths per 100,000 state residents was 0.1 in June 2021, a decline of 96% from December 2020 (when average weekly deaths were 1.6 per 100,000). This decline ranges from 77% in Wisconsin to 100% in six states (California, Connecticut, Washington DC, Massachusetts, Montana, and Tennessee),” according to the report.
Five states, however — Colorado, Georgia , New York and Wisconsin — reported an increase in COVID-19 deaths in long-term care facilities compared with a few months ago. Still, the numbers are lower than at the peak of the pandemic.
“While LTC cases and deaths have been steadily trending downward since the vaccine rollout, there are still several factors that prevent the long-term care crisis from coming to an end, including the rise of the delta variant and low vaccination rates in some parts of the country [both in and out of long-term care facilities],” Kaiser reported.
